ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Johnny King, 69, is the kind of man who smiles easily. He appears laid back and content, but a life-changing horror has deeply injured him.

"I've never recovered," King said of a horrific attack he suffered on Feb. 26, 2008.

When he arrived that morning to open up his electronics repair shop on Main Street in Rock Hill, a teenager came in behind him.

"He asked me about an amplifier or something, so when I walked over to this door, he got me in a headlock," King said.

Moments later, the young man was beating him over the head and in the face with a string trimmer. King showed Eyewitness News the broken yard tool as well as a bloody jacket he was wearing on that cold day.

"If he'd hit me one more time, I probably wouldn't be here talking about it," King said.

He was bound with cords and left for dead on the floor of his shop in a pool of blood. Fortunately, a neighbor came in and found him not long afterwards.

After five surgeries on his face and the complete rebuilding of his left eye, King still suffers. Nerve damage has disfigured his face and altered his bright smile. The experience has left him nervous and fearful.

"It's terrible. When I go home, I always have my little gun. Even when I'm home watching TV I have my gun next to me. When I go to the bathroom I have a towel over it so if I'm in the shower and see someone, I can shoot him," he said.

"I keep waiting for this man to come back in this store," he said.

Fortunately, that's not likely. Not long after the attack, Rock Hill police arrested 19-year-old LaGerald Dickerson. Police said he waited for King that morning, sitting next door at a tire shop and asking workers there when King usually showed up to open his shop.

On Thursday morning, King had a small sticky note on his front door with the words, "gone to court today," written on it. Despite his nerves, he was ready to face the man that police said almost killed him nearly two years ago.

LaGerald Dickerson was expected in court in the afternoon, but his lawyers canceled at the last minute, saying they weren't ready.

King couldn't believe it at first.

"I don't know what happened. I feel terrible. I've still got to wait, wait, wait," he said.

An electronics repair man by day, King is better known as a jazz musician. For decades, he's toured the world with a band called Fatback as its singer and guitarist.

Just as TVs, radios and old sound equipment cover the tables in his shop, pictures of his bandmates cover the walls above them.

He said rehearsing and playing with his band helps to heal him, but he's ready for this to be over.

"I want to put it behind me," he said. "Guess I just got to wait a little longer."

The hearing for Dickerson is now scheduled for the next court term, which begins Nov. 16. He's charged with kidnapping, armed robbery and assault and battery with intent to kill.