OKALOOSA ISLAND — A beach attendant is being credited with taking down an armed man late Monday afternoon.

The man, who has not been identified by officials, was arguing with a group of beachgoers over an inflatable octopus, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

WARNING: Video contains rough language.

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

Witnesses say he took the beach toy from another family's tent, and when the argument escalated, left and came back with a gun in a fanny pack.

"He kept kind of putting his hand on it, saying he was going to shoot it," said Wesley Wooden, who works for Coastal Beach Services. "They were telling him to go away but he wouldn't leave."

Wooden, who had an armload of beach umbrellas, dropped all but one of them.

"I swung the umbrella, hit him in the face, knocked him out," Wooden said. "I pulled the gun out (of the fanny pack) and cleared the chamber."

The armed man was taken to the hospital for injuries from the umbrella.

The victim declined to press charges, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Nicole Wagner.

Wagner said the gun belonged to the man's wife and deputies gave it back to her. It was not immediately clear whether he had permission to have the gun because paperwork pertaining to it was filed in Georgia.

Wooden said he was concerned not just about the folks in the argument, but the hundreds of people who were still on the beach.

"I thought, 'Even if he misses, he could hit anybody,'" Wooden said.

Dominick Marengo, who also works for Coastal Beach Services, watched the entire incident unfold. He said it ended with the family getting their octopus floatie back.

"It was wild," he said.

Kimberly Gutierrez was on the beach with her sister and cousin when she noticed the ruckus. The New Orleans woman pulled out her cellphone and videotaped it until they saw the gun. Then her sister dragged her way.

"We were freaking out," she said. "The umbrella man just hit him in the head with the umbrella.

"We come here every year and we've never seen anything like that."