Story highlights
The store clerk doubles over after the bullet hits him, a surveillance video shows
He survived without serious injury because his cell phone blocked it
"The bullet didn't go through, but it hit him," his co-worker says in a 911 call
The shooting happened during an attempted robbery at a gas station in Florida
A surveillance video captures the moment when a store clerk in Florida survived a bullet, thanks to his cell phone.
It shows a robber pointing his gun at the clerk as he walks away from the counter. The clerk doubles over after the bullet strikes.
But the clerk survived the shooting without serious injury because the bullet hit the cell phone he had in his front pocket.
In the surveillance video, aired by CNN affiliate WESH, the clerk can be seen lifting his shirt to check for wounds.
His co-worker, meanwhile, describes the close shave in a 911 call.
“My partner was, he was hit, I think it hit his phone,” she says in a recording of the call released by police and aired by WESH. “But he was hit, he was injured.”
The dispatcher asks her where the victim is now.
“He’s standing up,” the worried co-worker replies. “The bullet didn’t go through, but it hit him.”
The clerk’s lucky escape happened Monday at the store of a Hess gas station in Winter Garden, Florida. The robber had pulled out a revolver and demanded that the store clerks open the safe. When they were unable to do so, he left, firing one shot at the male clerk.
The clerk experienced chest pains from the impact, but he was quickly released from a hospital after being checked for injuries, authorities said.
His HTC smartphone came off worse. A photo showed its screen shattered around a hole where the bullet had lodged.
Police have said he was very lucky to have escaped almost unharmed from the shooting.
No arrests had been made in the case as of Wednesday evening, according to WESH.