Lake Baked attacked by bear-spray wielding man

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office is searching for the man who used bear spray to assault a family working at the Lake Baked bakery in downtown Bigfork early Sunday morning.

When the Felt family started their work day at Lake Baked bakery in downtown Bigfork early Sunday morning, they had no idea of the ordeal they would soon face.

According to Jana Felt, she had begun work along with her husband (Stephen) as well as her daughter and co-owner Sadie around 3:45 Sunday morning when they found a pickup truck and camper parked on the bakery’s lawn, covering its sprinkler system.

After twice asking the trailer’s occupant to leave their property, Jana returned to the kitchen before the attack occurred.

“All of a sudden, my daughter and I both started choking and gagging because our eyes and throats started burning,” Jana said. “My husband started choking, too, so he and I ran out while Sadie hid in the bathroom.”

As the family struggled to catch their breath, they also struggled to figure out what had just happened.

“We were freaked out and afraid because we didn’t know what was going on,” Jana said. “Stephen thought a truck had spilled some chemicals or something. There was no sound and we couldn’t see anything in the air. Just, all of a sudden, we couldn’t breathe.”

As Jana stumbled her away outside, she caught a glimpse of the truck and trailer speeding away from the bakery and she quickly put the pieces together.

After the family checked the bakery’s security cameras, the full story came into view.

The man had spent several minutes making his way around the building, looking for a place to make his attack before finding the window to the kitchen open. It was there that he stood just outside the window and sprayed the bear repellent inside.

“We had not been yelling at each other and he wasn’t swearing at me. There wasn’t any kind of huge altercation before he did this. I just wanted him to move on. For him to have that kind of reaction was unexpected, to say the least,” Jana said.

Luckily for the Felts, the large venting system in the bakery’s kitchen quickly pulled all of the bear spray from the air and none of the day’s food items were ruined.

Jana did not immediately call law enforcement, but she did post an account of her story on Facebook and Instagram, leading to a quick outpouring of support from the Bigfork community.

“My phone started blowing up with people calling and texting,” Jana said. “He did this, and it was awful, but all of the support that has come out of this has been amazing. This is a small community and it is amazing how supportive everyone has been about this. That’s what I want to focus on coming out of this.”

Jana did make a report to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office Monday, who is asking the public for any information about the man who made the attack. The man was reported to be driving an older white truck with a slide-in cab over trailer in a flatbed with different wood panels attached to the side. His trailer windows were covered with silver bubble wrap type materials.