FERRIDAY — Police are still searching for a suspect that robbed the Ferriday Family Dollar at gunpoint Thursday, an incident that sent an elderly woman to the hospital.

The suspect was last seen leaving the store in Ferriday and heading east wearing khaki pants, a red shirt and a black hooded jacket. The suspect is a black male who appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s, police said.

The store’s assistant manager, Brian Callihan, 33, was one of two employees preparing to close the store approximately at 9:55 p.m. when the incident occurred. Callihan said he emptied the register when the suspect pointed a gun in his face for approximately four minutes.

Callihan said a story about the robbery in Friday’s edition of The Democrat based on police reports lacked some information about the robbery, and he wanted to tell the whole story for the record.

Callihan said the suspect walked in the store five or six minutes before closing time and held casual conversation with both employees before asking the manager where to locate athlete’s foot treatment.

The suspect did not appear fidgety or antsy and was unsuspicious at first, Callihan said.

“My first impression was that he was somebody that I would be sitting next to in church,” Callihan said.

Callihan said after the suspect picked out his foot medication, he asked the store manager, a woman in her 60s, where cough drops were located.

Callihan said a second after his manager punched a button on the register to check out the cream and cough drops, he heard a commotion.

Callihan then looked around for the manager, who was lying behind the counter, and he instead saw the suspect coming toward him with a silver pistol pointed at Callihan’s head.

Callihan said the suspect repeatedly told him he would shoot him if Callihan “did anything stupid.”

Callihan said he pleaded with the suspect, telling him he had a wife and three kids.

Callihan said he instinctively bagged the money as he would normal items when the suspected demanded he hand it over.

“I can’t tell you what was going through my head, but I bagged the money like it was groceries,” he said.

The suspect asked for more money after Callihan gave him approximately $500 from the register.

Callihan said a register buzzer then became activated and scared off the suspect.

He said the buzzer is designed to sound after the register drawer is left opened for a certain amount of time to encourage employees to keep the drawer closed.

The suspect became “ghost white” and angry when he heard the buzzer and accused Callihan of activating an alarm, Callihan said.

“Then I got that, ‘I’m dead’ feeling. I closed my mind and turned my head — he was hysterically mad at me — and when I did that, I heard the bell on my door, and he had run away,” Callihan said.

Callihan said he immediacy called 911, and then he helped the manager off the floor because she could not get up on her own.

Ferriday Assistant Police Chief Johnny Evans said Monday the manager was injured during the incident when the suspect threw her against a cooler before she fell on the floor.

Ferriday Police Department officers asked her if she wanted an ambulance, but she declined and was given a ride to the hospital.

Callihan said the manager, who rarely misses work, did not show up the next day, but he thinks she is doing OK.

Callihan said when he called 911, the dispatcher must have mistakenly thought he was calling from the Vidalia Family Dollar, because the dispatcher mistakenly directed the call to the Vidalia Police Department.

Evans said Ferriday police officers overheard the dispatch through their radios and arrived on the scene shortly after the call was made.

Evans said the 911 caller, Callihan, told the dispatcher at the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office the suspect went in the direction of Natchez, and the dispatcher must have assumed the call was placed in Vidalia, since Vidalia is closer to Natchez than Feriday.

Callihan said he thinks the suspect is taller than the police reported to The Democrat. He said he is 6-foot-2, himself, and he was eye-level with the suspect, so the suspect is probably closer to his height than the 5-foot-11 that was reported Friday.

Callihan also said he thinks the robber was inexperienced because he could not differentiate between a register buzzer and a theft alarm, which would have been much louder.

Callihan said he was glad to return to his family after the incident.

“When I got home I gave my wife a hug and couldn’t let go and started crying like a baby,” he said.

Evans said anyone with information about the suspect should call the Ferriday Police Department at 318-757-3606