BANGOR – Detectives are looking for the man who stabbed a 26-year-old man early Thursday morning.

The man was stabbed as he walked on Hammond Street, near its intersection with Ohio Street, about 2:30 a.m., Detective Lt. Tim Reid of the Bangor Police Department said Thursday.

The man was heading away from the downtown area when he came across two people, a man and a woman, walking toward the downtown, Reid said.

Reid said that words were exchanged and that the other man stabbed the victim, leaving a large gash in the man’s right forearm. Reid said that the injury was a relatively serious stab wound.

The bleeding man then walked to a pay phone at Leadbetter’s Mini Stop convenience store, where he phoned the police. He was taken by the Bangor Fire Department to Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he was treated and stayed overnight. He was to be released Thursday, Reid said.

“We’re not sure what started the altercation,” the lieutenant said.

Detectives have conducted interviews, and the incident still is under investigation.