'I'm with nothing': Houston handyman shot at, beaten, robbed of livelihood

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A local handyman says he is lucky to be alive after he was brutally attacked, robbed, and even shot at while working in northwest Houston Thursday. Now, he says he is not sure how he will continue to make a living.

"I'm with nothing," Magdaleno Soto Mondragon explained in Spanish.

A handyman of more than 30 years, Mondragon's livelihood was stolen by robbers who tried to take his life.

He was working a remodeling job near Victory Boulevard and T.C. Jester Drive when the attack occurred. A security camera captured it.

He said he felt the two men who attacked him were suspicious from the jump. They asked him for a cigarette and water before shooting at him.

"I tried to defend myself," he said.

He attempted to wrestle the gun away and was pistol-whipped. He was beaten so badly he was hospitalized.

Still, it is his livelihood he's most worried about.

The robbers took off with his truck, phone, wallet, and tools.

"Sometimes I went without eating to buy tools because I needed it," he said.

He expects it will take "years" to build back his collection. He estimates $7,000 worth of tools were taken. He said there was $1,000 cash in his wallet because he had recently been paid.

"Without (my tools) I can't work. I'm without anything," he told ABC13.

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