NORTH KINGSTOWN — The police yesterday were looking for a man who entered a home on Ten Rod Road (Route 102) on Friday, threatened a woman with a weapon and drove away in her car.

The incident occurred at 11:25 a.m. The doors to the house, in the village of Lafayette, were unlocked and the man entered through one of them, according to Lt. Carlton Arruda.

The woman was upstairs with her 1-year-old child when she heard a noise and went downstairs.

The man confronted the woman with what the police called an “edged” weapon and demanded the car keys to a blue 2004 Ford Explorer in the driveway. After the woman gave up the car keys the man drove away toward Exeter, Arruda said. Neither the woman or the baby, who was upstairs in a crib, were hurt during the confrontation, Arruda said. The woman did not know the man who took the car, he said.

Arruda said it is not known whether the man had been monitoring the residence and went to the house when the husband left or if he thought perhaps from the nondescript and plain look of the former mill house that elderly people lived there and took a chance. “It could be he was surprised when he went there,” Arruda said.

North Kingstown Police notified surrounding police agencies and a regional dragnet began in an effort to catch him, the police said. As of yesterday afternoon, the police had not located the man or the car.

“It is possible that he slipped into holiday traffic and got to where he was going,” Arruda said. “We just don’t know the person’s destination. We checked and there was nothing that preceded it that gives any pattern or objective. We checked the casinos. Sometimes after people do their crimes they end up going to the casino.”

According to the police, the man was white, 38 to 40 years old, 5 feet, 9 inches and between 150 and 170 pounds. He has a faded tattoo on his right upper arm. He wore a brown golf cap (reversed), a white sleeveless shirt and beige shorts. He was carrying a blue duffle bag. The police consider the man to be armed and dangerous.

tpina@projo.com