CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Several people received medical treatment late Friday night after a male suspect sprayed pepper spray inside a Clearlake bar.

The incident occurred at Silk's Bar on Lakeshore Drive shortly after 11 p.m., according to the Clearlake Police Department.

Witnesses described the suspect as a white male adult with tattoos who fled in a red vehicle driven by a female subject, according to Clearlake Police Sgt. Brenda Crandall.

Club owner Andre Williams, who was there during the incident, said the male suspect was outside talking to one of the club's security guards before going inside. Later the man was seen running back outside, spraying pepper spray.

Williams said the suspect sprayed the pepper spray “directly on one person and then ran out and kept spraying it.”

Officers were dispatched to a report of a possible fight including pepper spray, according to the details of a report shared by Crandall, who said she was not among the officers responding to the incident.

The responding officers found about 100 people outside of the bar, with several people coughing, Crandall said.

Medical personnel responded from the fire department and cared for about five to 10 people who were having difficulty breathing and experience a burning sensation from the pepper spray, according to the police report.

“It's not entirely clear who the particular target was,” Crandall said.

Police didn't have the suspect's name, she added.

One witness told police that a specific person was targeted, but Crandall said it isn't clear what the intentions of the suspect were.

Williams said he and his staff – none of which were hurt in the incident – had to get everyone out of the building while they aired it out, which took about an hour. The building was undamaged.

Last month, Williams received approval from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for modified operation conditions, allowing the bar to remain open until 2 a.m. instead of midnight, with two security guards required only on Friday and Saturday nights instead of seven days a week, according to Williams' attorney, Ron Green.

Williams, a respected entertainer who wants to make the club a first rate entertainment venue, also can have live music and other entertainment at the facility thanks to the modified conditions.


“Everything else has been smooth until that happened last night,” Williams said Saturday.

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