Generally when you think of a group of customers getting sick while visiting a restaurant, your mind automatically goes to the food. But that’s not always the case, as evidenced by a recent pepper spray incident at a Sarasota Panera.

WTSP-TV reports that four people were taken to the hospital for respiratory illness after someone set off a can of pepper spray inside a local Panera restaurant.

Police officials say a 16-year-old boy came forward and admitted to spraying the substance. He allegedly told officers that he didn’t know what it was or that it would spread throughout the restaurant.

Investigators tell WTSP that the incident appears to have been an accident.

Pepper spray sickens Sarasota Panera diners [WTSP-TV]

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