PROVIDENCE -- A knife-wielding suspect slashed at a man working at a Manton Avenue liquor store in an attempted robbery Wednesday night, then bolted when the victim brandished his firearm, city police said.

Police went to the Manton Liquors store at 309 Manton Ave. at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night for the report of a robbery, according to Commander Thomas Verdi. Witnesses told them that a man wearing a black mask, a dark-colored long sleeve T-shirt, a red baseball hat and possibly surgical gloves, ran into the store with a knife and demanded that a person working there empty the register.

The suspect chased the person working there around the rear of the counter, and in a scuffle, the register fell behind the counter. The worker tried to keep the suspect from the counter and protect himself, but the suspect slashed at him with the knife, cutting his right forearm and fingers, police said in a report.

The worker, fearing for his life, then got his firearm from under the counter. The suspect saw the firearm, screamed, and sprinted out of the store, police said.

The suspect fled on foot up Steuben Street toward Amherst Street, Verdi said.

The victim was taken to Roger Williams Hospital to be treated.