A passerby who offered assistance to a driver who had asked for help after hitting a snowbank was threatened with a gun, police say.

In a news release, Winnipeg police said Tuesday a man drove what turned out to be a stolen car into a snowbank off Copeland Street in Transcona at about 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

When someone stopped to help him, he told the person he was very cold and asked for help. The Good Samaritan called 911 for an ambulance, and then the man in the car pulled a gun and threatened to shoot.

The suspect tried to reverse the car but couldn't move it, so he fled on foot.

Police caught up with a suspect near Dugald and Murdock roads. They found the keys to the stolen car, a .22 calibre cartridge and $2,975 in cash.



Police also found a backpack that had been hidden in snow containing a collapsible baton and a "load revolver-style .22 calibre handgun with a spent round."

Near where the car got stuck, police found a .22 calibre semi-automatic rifle hidden in an unlocked vehicle parked on private property.

The car had been stolen from the parking lot of a convenience store on Corydon Avenue the evening before, police say, after the driver went inside the store and left the car running and unlocked.

A Winnipeg man, 35, is currently in custody and facing numerous weapons charges, along with possession of cocaine, possession of property obtained by crime over and under $5,000 and an unrelated fraud charge.