JACKSON (WNE) — Hundreds of patrons cleared out of the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and onto the street late Saturday night after bear spray was released on the dance floor.

The crowd quickly moved out of the bar in a mass evacuation, and people coughed, struggled to breathe and put their jackets or shirts over their mouths. Those who were on the dance floor and directly in the line of the bear spray said their eyes and throats burned as they pushed their way out the front door.

“It spread quickly throughout, and the staff quickly made the decision to evacuate the premises,” said Jim Waldrop, president and general manager of the Silver Dollar, Inc. 

About 10 minutes after the crowd cleared the bar, a fire truck, ambulance and law enforcement showed up on the scene. 

“Medics were called to check in on those exposed, but they all refused transport to the hospital,” Ruschill said, adding that any medical attention given to people who were exposed was done on scene.

Waldrop said the bar was closed for the rest of the evening, but business continued as usual throughout the rest of the weekend. He said the facilities employee opened the doors and aired out the bar and restaurant, but the building didn’t need to be professionally fumigated.

Ruschill said no witnesses came forward to report seeing anyone with a canister of bear spray or pepper spray that caused the evacuation. Waldrop confirmed that authorities were investigating the incident, and a person of interest may have been identified in security footage. He said there were no eyewitnesses at the time.

He said there’s no known motivation, but he didn’t think it was an attack on anyone. He described it as a possible “prank.”