Employee Pranks Manager With Airsoft Gun

Location: Florida

I am a manager at a small corporate company. One of my employees pulled a gun on me randomly and looked and seemed completely serious about wanting to rob me. He put the gun away and walked away when I told him I didn’t have anything on me. I quickly called the police, and when they got there they told me that it was an Airsoft gun and not an actual handgun. In the moment, I couldn’t tell the difference due to him jamming in my stomach and not showing me the bright orange tip of it. It was very real and terrifying and I honestly thought I was going to die. According to him, it was just a prank. It wasn’t very funny to me.

After speaking with several members of the corporate office, a decision was made to terminate the employee. Today, however, one of our regular customers had approached one of my employees and asked them if “they were the one that got fired”. They told them that the employee got fired due to them doing something stupid and didn’t say anything more on the subject.

The employee in question has been to jail before for aggravated assault, and so I had no doubt in my mind in that moment that everything was real and happening. Now I’m doubting that I can count on my own safety while I’m at work due to the employee telling people that someone “got him fired”. It is conceivable that this employee has contacts out there that could make me disappear.

Am I being paranoid? Am I overthinking it? What can I do? Is there anything that my workplace can or should do?