By BEN LUNDIN

Staff Reporter

RESERVE – Authorities are searching for a man suspected of robbing a 20-year-old St. James woman at gunpoint and fleeing with her purse and cell phone in tow, the St. John Sheriff’s Office reported.

The victim was on the 1300 block of Highway 44 when a man armed with a pistol reportedly walked up behind her and grabbed her purse and cell phone before fleeing in a white truck.

The victim, an asthma sufferer, struggled to breathe when police arrived because her inhaler was in the stolen purse.

The robber was 6-feet and 2-inches tall and wore a black shirt and blue jeans, according to the victim’s statement.

The St. John Sheriff’s Office asks anyone with information to contact 985-652-6338.