HOUSTON -- A Houston television reporter was carjacked and kidnapped at gunpoint early Monday.

Houston police said the gunman approached KTRK-TV reporter Eric James at a red light on Westheimer Road near West Creek at about 3 a.m.

Investigators said James had just left his apartment and was headed to work.

"The suspect approached him with a gun in hand, forced him to let him into his vehicle and directed him to drive away from town," Sgt. Ronald Pinkerton said.

Detectives said James was forced to drive to just outside of Beaumont, about 100 miles away, and back to Houston. They didn't make any stops along the way, police said.

Once they returned to Houston, the gunman told James to drop him off along Interstate 45 near Cavalcade Street, police said. The gunman then demanded cash, officials said.

The attacker got away with about $40, police said.

"He's OK now, but he was terrorized," Pinkerton said of James. "He understood that this person is using a gun and taking his freedom away and was basically for a couple hours controlling what was happening to him. That would terrorize anybody."

Police have not released a description of James' attacker. Officials said he spoke Spanish and made several calls along the trip.

"I am alive, shaken, blessed and thankful today," James wrote as a status update on his Facebook page. "(I) just finished having prints taken of my car after being carjacked, kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint. A 3.5 hour nightmare which could have been much much worse."

James has worked at KTRK-TV since December 2006.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).