Rocky Mount, N.C. — Rocky Mount police are searching for a 51-year-old woman after her ex-boyfriend said she tried to run over him and set a vehicle fire that spread to his house Saturday evening.

Calvin Dancy said that he and Shonda Tripp were watching TV at his Cedar Street house when they heard noises outside. Dancy told police that he looked outside and saw his ex-girlfriend, Gwendelyn Archabell, getting into her car and driving away.

Tripp's car was engulfed in flames, so Dancy and Tripp ran out of the house and called 911, police said. While they were standing on Union Street, Archabell returned, drove toward them and swerved as if she intended to hit them.

The fire spread to Dancy's house before firefighters put it out. No one was injured.

Archabell is being sought on charges of first-degree arson, burning of personal property and assault with a deadly weapon.

She is described as a black woman, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 186 pounds. She is driving a burgundy 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible, with N.C. license plate TTM-5360. Her last known address is 809 School St.

According to state Department of Correction records, Archabell was convicted in 1999 of assault by pointing a gun, wanton injury to person or property under $200 and resisting an officer.