CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man used an airsoft gun to threaten Taco Bell customers, who then took it from him and pistol-whipped him at the restaurant near Public Square, police said.

The 37-year-old man has not yet been charged in the Tuesday incident at the Taco Bell on Euclid Avenue near East 3rd Street, according to court records.

An ambulance took him to St. Vincent Charity Medical Center to be treated for a laceration on his head, and to receive a mental health evaluation, police reports say.

Taco Bell employees said the man came into the restaurant about 10 p.m. and started yelling at a customer. He spit at the feet of several more customers, police reports say.

The customers confronted the man, who responded by pulling the airsoft gun from his waistband, police reports say.

The customers overpowered the man and took the gun from him. They used it to pistol-whip him several times over the head, then chased him from the restaurant, police reports say.

Cleveland police officers found the man standing outside the store. He had a deep gash on his forehead.

Officers found the airsoft gun on a nearby restaurant patio and seized it as evidence.

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