No App for That: Cellphone Saves Store Clerk from Robber's Bullet

The clerk only sustained minor injuries, but the phone is toast.

Daniel Hsu / Getty Images

In A Fist Full of Dollars, Clint Eastwood tells his rifle-wielding adversary 'aim for the heart Ramon,' all the while outwitting him with a makeshift bulletproof vest made from an iron plate.

So he might have been proud that his low-tech spaghetti western ingenuity turned into a real-life high-tech lifesaver after a robbery in Florida on Monday. That's when Winter Garden police officials say a convenience store clerk was shot at by an assailant fleeing the store, but his cellphone stopped the bullet, Tampa's Bay News 9 reported .

Police say a man entered a Hess gas station about 4:30 a.m. and demanded money from the safe. Unable to open it, a second clerk came in and also attempted to open it unsuccessfully. The robber decided to make a dash for it, but in leaving he fired a single round, which struck one of the clerks in the stomach. But he only sustained minor injuries thanks to the bullet hitting his phone, an HTC.

'It's a miracle he's able to be with us today because technically that round could have been life threatening,' said Winter Garden police Lt. Scott Allen.

Neither knew the clerk had been shot until one started complaining of chest pains, Allen said. When they took a look, they found the phone on him with a bullet lodged in it.

How's that iPhone looking now?

Protests Over Brazilian Oil Auction Rock Rio