PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — Brittany Pinkham was driving through Pawtucket early Wednesday morning when she spotted something unusual in the roadway.

“From far away it kind of looked like an animal, I won’t lie,” Pinkham recalled. “I was thinking, ‘what’s that?’ But driving closer, I could see a leg. Then I realized it was a body.”

“I was terrified,” she continued. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

The victim, identified by police as an 18-year-old man , was laying on the ground near the intersection of School and Rosewood streets.

Pinkham told 12 News she pulled over without a second thought to see if she could help him.

“I just had to check on him,” Pinkham said. “I couldn’t just leave him there.”

“If it were my [loved one], I would want someone to check on him,” she added. “Nobody deserves to go like that.”

Pinkham said she immediately called 911 upon realizing the man was “completely lifeless.” It wasn’t until someone flipped the man over that Pinkham realized he’d been shot in the chest.

The victim was rushed to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

“My heart absolutely shattered,” Pinkham said. “He didn’t even get to live his life yet … as a mother, I would not want to receive that phone call.”

“This violence just has to stop. It’s not the answer,” she concluded. “Nothing is ever that serious. We shouldn’t have a say in whether somebody else has to lose their life.”

No arrests have been made and the shooting remains under investigation.

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