Cellphone saves Florida store clerk from robber's bullet

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A convenience store clerk in Florida can thank his cellphone for stopping a bullet fired at his chest during an attempted robbery, police said on Tuesday.

"He was very lucky," said Lieutenant Scott Allen of the Winter Garden Police Department.

The middle-aged clerk, who police are not identifying for his safety, was shot at by a robber who ordered him and a female clerk to open the safe at a gas station and convenience store near Orlando, Florida, on Monday.

"He (the clerk) was not able to open the safe," Allen said. "The suspect went to leave, he pointed the revolver at one of the clerks and fired a single shot as he was leaving the store."

The clerk's cellphone was in the breast pocket of his baggy shirt.

"When it first happened, he checked himself to see if he was shot. He didn't see anything," Allen said. "Sometime later after the police were on the scene, he mentioned he had a little bit of chest pain. So they started looking into it and realized his cellphone had been shot."

The man did not suffer any injuries, Allen said.

The bullet remained lodged in the phone. Police suspect it came from a .22 or .25 caliber handgun, he said.

(Reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by Kevin Gray and Paul Simao)

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Bullet hits Philadelphia shop worker's belt buckle

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A grocery store employee said Thursday that he is thanking God and his belt buckle for saving him from a stray bullet that smashed through the market's front door.

The bullet lodged in the metal buckle worn by Bienvenido Reynoso, who had only recently started his job at 8 Brothers Supermarket in Philadelphia.

"It saved my life," Reynoso said of the belt. "I keep it for (my) whole life now."

Reynoso, 38, said he was about to wheel a hand truck outside the market in the city's Grays Ferry section when he heard gunshots around 4 p.m. Wednesday. He hit the floor.

Surveillance footage shows a man on a bike firing a gun outside the market. One person outside the store was hit in the abdomen and was hospitalized in critical condition, police said.

At first, Reynoso didn't realize he could have been a second victim.

"When I check my body, I don't see nothing, no blood, nothing," he said in an interview at his home Thursday. "And I said I'm going to be OK."

Then someone noticed a hole at the bottom of Reynoso's shirt. That's when he found the bullet stuck to his belt buckle.

Police took the bullet and shirt as evidence. But Reynoso, the father of a young daughter, got to keep the belt, which he said he got in New York three years ago.

Christian Vinas, 21, was working behind the counter and also dived to the ground when the shooting began. Reynoso had perfect timing in dropping to the floor, he said.

"That has to be God," Vinas said. "Out of all the places you could get hit in the body, you get hit right there. It was truly amazing."

Police arrested a 24-year-old suspect and charged him with attempted murder and aggravated assault.

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