Winnipeg police say they don't know why a man fired several rounds at a home on Redwood Avenue while a woman and her two young children slept inside.

The bizarre crime began when a man met a woman at a bar in the Weston neighbourhood early Sunday morning, police said. At around midnight, the man asked the woman if he could use her car and she said yes.

The man drove the car, alone, to Redwood Avenue, where he fired a rifle several times through a front window, police allege. A woman, 24, and her two young daughters were asleep inside. The woman did not know the man.

"We're not sure of the motive," Const. Jay Murray said Monday. "And it's very concerning for that reason.

"You can only imagine what this 24-year-old female and her daughters went through to have numerous rounds fired into their front bedroom."

After allegedly shooting up the home, the man returned to the bar and picked up the woman he had met. They drove to her home in the Inkster-Faraday neighbourhood with the gun in the back of the car, police said.

When they arrived, the man took the gun from the backseat and the woman got upset about it being in her car. The man then hit the woman on the side of the head with the butt of the gun and ran away, police said.

"When you [lend] someone your vehicle, you never know what it's going to be used for," said Murray. "Be careful who you lend that vehicle to, especially to someone you've just met."

Police found a man in a back alley on Mountain Avenue and arrested him for the crimes.

The 21-year-old faces several charges, including discharging a firearm with intent, possession of a weapon, assault with a weapon and failing to comply with court orders. He remains in custody.

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