Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Last Cell Phone From Krypton Stops Bullet, Saves Harlem Man
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 8, 2010
Modified Oct 8, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 8, 2010
Modified Oct 8, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
We have a complicated relationship with cell phones. They piss us off at concerts and they're ruining our social skills, but they are also great for sexting. Well yesterday, all that was made irrelevant when a cell phone stopped a bullet, saving a man's life and earning Superman's respect all at the same time.
Harlem handyman Juan Camarena was confronted and attacked by the old super of the building he works at on W. 119th Street yesterday morning. The ex-super, Tommie Davis, had been fired a month ago, but refused to leave the building, or even allow others to perform mop duty. Davis irately waved his handgun in front of Camarena and new super Jose Cruz on the stairwell of the building and barked at them to leave. When they didn't, he left, came back, and shot Camarena at close range (5-to-6 feet away).
"He looked me in the eye and shot me. The bullet went straight into my belt buckle. I had my cell phone right there. I checked and both my cell phone and belt buckle were in pieces, but the bullet did not go in," Camarena told the Daily News. For you folks on the market for a new, bullet-stopping cell phone, it was a Nextel i530.
Davis fled and is still at large, though some residents weren't too surprised at his behavior: "He was mad they were taking his job...[Davis] is not normal. He is not a sane person," said Eliya Washington, vice president of the building's board. Camarena remarkably escaped the ordeal with nothing more than a scratch, but he may have started a dangerous new cult: "Thanks to my cell phone I'm alive. I can't explain it—it's about divinity."
Tagged
bullet
cell phone
gun
gun violence
harlem
superintendent
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Holy civics! NYC schools' own comic books in the spotlight at Comic Con
Comic Con continues through Sunday.
By
Jessica Gould
Published Oct 10, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET
What we know about the ICE shooting in NYC
A federal immigration agent shot a Dominican immigrant in the neck in Marble Hill Thursday night.
By
Karen Yi
News
What we know about the ICE shooting in NYC
A federal immigration agent shot a Dominican immigrant in the neck in Marble Hill Thursday night.
By
Karen Yi
DSA to Mamdani: Fire NYPD commissioner if ICE doesn't leave NYC
By
Elizabeth Kim
,
Brigid Bergin
and
Ben Feuerherd
Two people killed in Bronx vehicle crash
By
Kaya Laterman
NY will opt in Trump’s school choice program, Hochul says
By
Jon Campbell
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .