It may not have been a real gun, but the charges are very real.
A Whitehorse man is claiming he was held at gunpoint while driving on Friday by a female friend and forced to withdraw money from an ATM.
Now, a 40-year-old woman is facing a string of charges including kidnapping and robbery.
Police say their investigation revealed the weapon involved was a BB gun. But Const. Dean Hoogland with the Whitehorse RCMP says that doesn’t matter when it comes to the seriousness of the charges.
“The person at the receiving end of the threat doesn’t know if it’s real or not,” he said, adding, “The criminal code still looks at it the same because you are still using (the weapon) as a threat to get what you want.”
According to police, the man complied with the woman’s demands and handed over an undisclosed amount of money. He was later able to escape the vehicle on foot.
Forty-year-old Stacey Lee Burke of Whitehorse has been charged with multiple offences including kidnapping, robbery, pointing a firearm, uttering threats and numerous breaches of court orders.
Burke will make an appearance in territorial court on Sept. 11.