An employee at a store in Saskatoon's Midtown Plaza unknowingly ran into a cloud of bear spray when he tried to help security after a fight in the mall escalated on Tuesday morning.

The employee, who declined to give his name, works at American Eagle Outfitters on the second floor of the mall, where the spray was used around 11:30 a.m. CST near a Foot Locker store.

The Foot Locker was briefly closed following the incident. Staff told CBC they saw males arguing, and one pulled out the spray. Police later said the dispute involved a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old.

Staff said they saw several males run away and, soon after, one of the males attempted to use the bear spray again just outside the American Eagle store. Saskatoon police say the spray was directed at mall security, who were already detaining one of the people involved, but the spray didn't go off.

A 17-year-old is now charged with assault with a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and deploying a noxious substance. The teen also had a warrant for his arrest, police said in a news release Tuesday.

'Weird tickle in our throats'

People who were in the mall at the time said firefighters came to make sure the air was clear.

Erica Deighton works at the Bootlegger store near American Eagle. She said she saw a group of males run by, yelling, "Go!" but she didn't know at first that a spray had been used.

"It was, like, 15 minutes later that we were kind of getting this weird tickle in our throats and we noticed people walking by, covering their mouth or coughing. And we were, like, 'What is going on?'"

Staff at the Foot Locker had to go directly past the spray to get away, and told CBC they felt nauseated and had itchy eyes, sore throats, nagging coughs, and headaches.

The spray did not have a distinct smell, which is why some working in the mall say they didn't initially know why they were experiencing those symptoms.

A mall manager visited the stores on the second level to explain what had happened, Deighton said, but some customers in the mall who weren't present during the bear spray incident weren't aware of what had happened.

The mall was not busy at the time of the incident, Deighton said, but when the lunch rush hit, people were still getting itchy eyes.