DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — An altercation at a Decatur bar led to the arrest of four individuals and subsequent court summonses after a heated exchange between a patron and the DJ escalated to an employee brandishing a firearm.

The confrontation unfolded in the early hours of Wednesday morning at Port Royal Gastropub, located on North Oakland Avenue. According to Sergeant Bradon Rolfs from the Decatur Police Department, officers were called to the scene around 1:30 a.m. following reports of an ongoing fight.

The dispute reportedly began when a 22-year-old woman expressed dissatisfaction with the DJ over the music selection.

“She suddenly knocked a drink off the DJ’s table, and other women attempted to calm her,” Rolfs explained. “She then grabbed a chair, raising it as if she intended to throw it. The other women managed to remove the chair from her grasp, but she returned to her table and continued to knock over drinks, creating a disturbance.”

A bartender told the group the woman was with to leave, and Rolfs said that it initially appeared as if they would comply, but the group instead returned to their table.

Then another woman in the group, who turned 21 the day of the incident, approached the DJ with a chair in her hand.

“At this point, the DJ is afraid the 21-year-old is going to hit him, and he begins to direct pepper spray at her,” Rolfs said.

The incident only escalated after that. The 22-year-old got back on the DJ stand and started slamming chairs down on his table. Bystanders who tried to intervene and de-escalate the situation were shoved to the ground.

Rolfs said that’s when the bar’s 44-year-old co-owner left the employee-only area of the bar, armed with a semi-automatic Taurus pistol.

“He believes he needs this because the group is so out of control and someone is going to get hurt,” Rolfs said. “He did not point the gun at anyone.”

Rolfs added that once police officers arrived, the co-owner turned the gun over to them. It was unloaded.

Regardless, officers discovered that the co-owner does not have a FOID card, which means it was illegal for him to possess a gun, even under the circumstances.

Rolfs added that the other co-owner arrived at the bar and claimed ownership of the gun, saying it should have been locked up and his business partner should not have grabbed it.

Three people were given notices to appear in court in connection to the fight. The two women were given notices related to ordinance violations concerning disorderly conduct, but the bar co-owner was given a criminal notice to appear for unlawful use of a weapon.

And as officers were on the scene, they witnessed a different 22-year-old, whose birthday was also that day, commit an act of criminal damage amidst the chaos.

“She decided she wanted to kick the glass entrance to the bar, and it shattered,” Rolfs said.

She was given a notice to appear in court for causing over $500 worth of criminal property damage.