Joe Shelton was on his long, early-morning drive to his job at an auto plant when a chunk of concrete the size of a toaster smashed through his windshield and killed him.
Police said Shelton was driving his Nissan GT-R on an interstate through downtown Nashville Tuesday morning when someone threw the concrete from a bridge and it struck him in the head.
So far there are no suspects, police said. Authorities are searching surveillance video for clues.
Neighbors told CNN affiliate WZTV that Shelton, 54, had a close-knit family that included a wife and a son.
“It’s just sad to lose a loved one unexpectedly like that. You’re not prepared for that,” Beverly Johnson, who lives near Shelton’s son, told the Nashville station. “It’s a hurtful thing.”
State bridge inspectors determined the concrete block was not a part of the bridge, but more closely resembled a roadway curb.
Shelton was heading east on I-24 from Pleasant View, Tennessee, to the Nissan plant in Smyrna, about 45 miles away, when he was struck and killed about 5 a.m. His car went out of control and sideswiped a pickup truck and a guardrail before coming to a stop, police said.
“Know who may have done this? 615-742-7463,” Metro Nashville police tweeted.
The incident comes 11 months after a group of Ohio teens dropped a sandbag from a highway overpass, killing a motorist traveling below. They were sentenced in April to a youth treatment facility.