MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS) – A man is now left with second degree burns after he was attacked with battery acid Friday night.

Mahud Villalaz says it happened after a man began yelling at him for where he parked his car, outside of a restaurant near 13th and Cleveland Avenue.

“The guy told me you can’t park there, you got to be 3 feet away from the bus stop and the start saying why you came here, why you don’t respect the laws, why you come here and invade my country,” said Villalaz.

Villalaz said he initially tried to ignore the man, but he did go back to move his car. He said there was a short back-and-forth before things escalated.

"We started argue, why you invade my country? I said I didn’t invade your country, I am a US citizen,” said Villalaz. “And I start telling him that many people came from somewhere else, the longest people that have been here are the Native Americans and he got mad and threw the acid in my face.”

Now after the attack Villalaz says he’s grateful to be alive. He said that this is something he’ll never forget but knows he’s stronger from it.

“Thanks God I'm good, it just burns, I can get better, thanks god for that. Oh my gosh I appreciate more life, I have two beautiful boys that I want to see grow up and just take care of them be a better father,” said Villalaz.

Villalaz is also experiencing blurry vision in his left eye. Right now, he's on work release for about a week. 

His sister has set up a GoFundMe page to help with his recovery https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-brother-mahud-victim-of-another-hate-crime.