Long Island cab driver speaking out after being shot in the face during robbery

ROOSEVELT, Long Island (WABC) -- A Long Island cab driver who was shot during a robbery Wednesday night is speaking out about the terrifying ordeal he didn't think he would make it out of alive.

The victim said he knew right away something was wrong, but it happened so fast he didn't have time to react. He was shot in the face and certain he was going to die, but somehow he survived to share his story.

"He says that he feels great that he's alive," a translator said. "Has few more days to live."

The 42-year-old driver is too afraid to reveal his identity, but he is grateful for a second chance at life despite losing his left eye.

He said it was just after 9 p.m. when he was called to Jefferson Avenue in Roosevelt to pick up a fare. When he got there, he said two men suddenly came out of nowhere and jumped into his backseat.

"He turned around and saw them with masks on, black masks," the translator said. "Right then and there, he suspected oh God, something's going to happen to me. Then when he asked them where are you going and they responded Freeport, and then the guy right behind him started hitting him on the head."

As he was being pummeled, he put the car in reverse, eventually crashing into a metal gate. That's when he got out of the car, and a struggle ensued. As he was defending himself from one attacker on the ground, the other suspect walked up, pulled the trigger without a word, and took off.

Badly wounded, he managed to call 911, afraid the suspects would come back to finish the job.

"He thinks if the police didn't come as fast as they did, the guys would've come back to make sure that he was dead," the translator said.

The only description of the suspects is that they were wearing dark-colored clothes and masks, and the victim said they appeared to be young men.

He had been driving a cab for less than a year, and he is unsure when or if he'll return to work.