ROSWELL, Ga. -- A cell phone may have saved the life of a Roswell liquor store clerk.

Police Lt. James McGee tells WSB-TV that when a would-be robber tried to stab the clerk at the Beverage Mart on Holcomb Bridge Road, the knife dented the cell phone in the clerk's pocket, but did not injure him.

That's when the clerk then pulled a pistol and shot and wounded the suspect. The clerk said his Roswell police officer son gave him the gun for protection.

The suspect ran from the store and 30 minutes later, North Fulton Regional Hospital reported getting a patient with a gunshot wound.

The incident began about 8:30 p.m. Monday, when the suspect entered the store and waved a knife at one of two customers inside.

"He then turned toward the clerk and lunged at him with the knife," McGee said. "Luckily, he had the cell phone in his pocket, which deflected the knife.

"If not, it would have cost him serious bodily injury, and maybe his life."

The wounded suspect is being treated at North Fulton Regional Hospital for non-life threatening wounds.