An attempted robbery of a central Florida gas station nearly ended in tragedy early Monday morning, but a clerk's well-placed cell phone saved his life.

At about 4:40 a.m. Monday, a man walked into a Hess station in Winter Garden, Florida, and asked one of the clerks for directions. When the clerk began to respond, the man pulled out a revolver and demanded that the clerk open the store's safe.

The clerk was unable to access the safe, so the gunman ordered a second clerk to try. That attempt was also unsuccessful.

"At that point in time the suspect went to leave the store, and as he was leaving he fired one round towards the clerk," Winter Garden Lt. Scott Allen told WFTV.

The bullet struck the clerk in the abdomen, not that he noticed.

"He didn't realize he'd been shot," Lt. Allen said, adding that he clerk's smart phone had stopped the bullet. The clerk didn't become aware of his luck until he took his phone out of his shirt pocket.

Police are still looking for the suspect.

[Images via AP/WFTV]