Suspect pours bleach on 2 patrons outside DC bar

WASHINGTON - Police are looking for a suspect who poured bleach on two people outside of a D.C. bar.

The victims were standing outside of the Black Whiskey bar on 14th Street in the Logan Circle neighborhood early Thursday morning when they were hit with the chemical that came pouring from above.

Black Whiskey management said it all started at a pool table inside of the bar. Several men were arguing and bar staff asked them to leave. While two people went down the stairs out front, security video provided by the bar's owner shows a man going out the back door and grabbing a bottle of bleach. He first walks down the rear stairs, but then turns around and heads in the direction of a ladder that leads to the roof.

There is no video of the bleach being poured over the victims. But a short time later, the man returns without the bottle of bleach and leaves down the rear steps.

Black Whiskey management compared timestamped video to cameras at Trade, a bar located downstairs below Black Whiskey, and they said their video matches up with video of a liquid coming down onto the sidewalk.

We are told staff members from Trade came running out to help the victims splashed by the bleach. The injured customers were taken to a nearby hospital.

Trade is known as a gay bar, but police said there is no indication that this is a hate crime.

Police said no one has been arrested, but they are making progress in this case.

Black Whiskey said in a Facebook post:

The ownership and management of Black Whiskey is greatly concerned about the incident that occurred early this morning in front our establishment and the subsequent social media post related to the event. First, we hope the injured persons are doing well physically and emotionally. Second, please know that we have been cooperating with the authorities and working closely with our good neighbors at Trade to determine who perpetrated this act. Video tape reveals that an individual patron at Black Whiskey, with no affiliation to Black Whiskey exited the rear of the building, stole a bottle of bleach from our cleaning supplies and climbed to the top of our roof. From there it appears he emptied the contents of the bottle and then threw the bottle to the sidewalk. His intended target appears to have been a group of Black Whiskey patrons with whom he had an altercation with inside the bar and who exited the front of the building just moments before the incident.

Our staff was not aware of the incident until after it occurred and fully cooperated with police on the scene. We have since shared video surveillance to assist the police investigation.

We pray the facts prove this to be a dispute between two groups at a bar and nothing more sinister for the sake of our community.