An elderly Halifax woman says she is nervous to answer her door after she was attacked and dragged from her home Tuesday evening.

Jeanette MacDonald, 85, says she was watching TV before 11 p.m. when she heard someone banging on her door. When she opened it, a man she didn’t know demanded money and told her he had a knife and a gun.

“I didn’t know him,” says MacDonald. “He just kept saying, ‘Give me the money,’ and I said, ‘I haven’t got it to give you.’ He was using dirty language too.”

She says she was “scared to death” as the man punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground.

“That’s when he let me have it with his fists right in the face, and I couldn’t see. The blood was just gushing,” describes MacDonald.

MacDonald says the man pushed her to the ground and had her china cabinet dropped on top of her.She says she was then dragged outside, where the man started kicking her in the driveway.

“The man next door, his wife heard me screaming,” she says. “I told him, ‘Stop, stop,’ and … he said he wanted the money and I said, ‘I haven’t got it.’”

The suspect fled the scene as neighbours rushed to her side and called 911.

A number of police officers and a K9 unit responded to the scene, but they were unable to locate the suspect.

“Our forensic identification unit attended the scene to gather evidence and they are now trying to see if they can get any information from that evidence,” said Const. Dianne Penfound of Halifax Regional Police.

MacDonald refused to go to the hospital, but was treated at the scene for some cuts and bruises.

She says she has lived in the 3200 block of Pennington Street for more than 20 years and has never had a problem, until now. She lives alone but will have friends staying with her after the incident.

“I’m not allowed to be alone,” she says. “The doctor called me this morning and he told me.”

She admits she is now nervous to open her door.

“I’m a little nervous, you know what I mean? Anxious you know, like if someone comes, as long as I see who they are, it’s not too bad,” says MacDonald. “I’ll just keep going I guess.”

“Who would do that to an old lady? She can barely walk and he takes her and throws her into the street,” said MacDonald’s friend, Mark Lummis.

Lummis has known MacDonald for years. He got a call Tuesday night and rushed over.

“The knife was on the floor, tea was spilled. It was a real ramshackle, but I think he didn't rifle through too much because I think he was scared off before he had a chance,” Lummis said.

Police are still looking for the suspect, who is described as a light-skinned black man with a slim build and no facial hair. He is five-foot-five inches tall and was wearing a red sweater and a red toque at the time of the incident.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kelland Sundahl.