A long-time waitress, who declined to give her name, said of the melee: "It was the scariest frickin' day of my life."



The woman later said outside the restaurant that she first noticed the group of victims in the parking lot around 12:30 p.m., milling around some cars with out-of-state plates.



The woman said they came to the restaurant as part of a reservation for 20 people, but none of them seemed to know each other.



She also said that she was a little wary of the diners because they told her they were part of an Irish heritage group, though none spoke in an Irish dialect or with an accent.



She went to the back of the restaurant to make salads and told another waitress to let her know if there was any trouble with the group.



About 15 minutes later, the second waitress told the woman that there was a brawl in the restaurant.



The woman said when she emerged, she saw the attacking group attacking patrons with bats and hammers.



All the dishes and plates were knocked off the tables and smashed, and people were either lying on the ground bleeding or crouched behind tables, she said.



She described one of the hammers left behind at the scene as a railroad hammer with a 24-inch handle.



"They took out the whole restaurant," she said. "It was absolutely horrible."



Another waitress said most of the attackers looked to be in their late teens. She also said the attackers screamed obscenities throughout the incident.



At one point, the first woman said, the restaurant's manager chased after an attacker who tried to flee but was struck from behind and beaten.



The woman described the restaurant, where she has worked for eight years, as an Irish establishment that typically draws several generations of families.



"I call this place my Emerald Isle — the happiest place in the world," she said. "The customers are old school. When I'm inside these walls, I feel secure, like in a big, giant family."



Police said that the village believes the incident to be isolated and not a random attack. The incident is under investigation and police are receiving cooperation from the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force.



