Forty-seven-year-old Fred William Turner Jr. was found slumped over the wheel of his car Saturday afternoon, after the police followed up on a 9-1-1 call Turner made around 3 p.m.

Turner first called the police to report a potential case of road rage. While driving down a side street near I-4 in Tampa, Fla. Turner noticed a car pull up alongside him.

"While on the phone, the caller stated that the vehicle following him had earlier pulled up next to his vehicle," said Debbie Carter, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department. "And someone displayed what appeared to be a semiautomatic weapon to him."

Turner got on the I-4 heading toward Orlando trying to elude the aggressors, but grew even more concerned when they began to follow him. Turner mentioned to the dispatcher that he hadn't cut the car off or done anything else to incite this reaction.

"At some point, for unknown reasons, the occupant, or occupants, of one vehicle fired multiple shots at the other vehicle," Carter said.

After the shots were fired, Turner pulled the car over to the side of the road. He remained on the line with the dispatcher moments afterward, but was found dead on arrival.

Police approached Turner's car hesitantly, unsure whether the assailants had stationed themselves nearby for a second attack. In the end, however, all they found was Turner's lifeless body.

Investigators have been trying to piece together the puzzle of phone calls and eyewitness reports since the incident; however, attaining the specific witnesses who were on the scene at the time of the shooting has proven difficult.

WTSP reports the suspect's car may be a gray, newer model Ford Taurus with tinted windows.

Even though Turner couldn't provide a supposed motive for the attack, investigators have tentatively classified the crime as a severe case of road rage, which the National Highway Transit Safety Administration defines as when "individuals commit a combination of moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property."

One 1999 NHTSA survey of 6,000 drivers ages 16 and older reported that 60 percent of people perceived "unsafe driving by others, including speeding, as a major personal threat to themselves and their families."

A neighbor of Turner's, when interviewed, expressed confusion over how he could be perceived as such a threat.

"I don't know why anyone would do that. I mean, he was a nice guy. I don't see him having any enemies," said the neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous. "He stayed to himself. He was a quiet guy. I just can't believe that someone would just openly, randomly shoot him on I-4. That's horrible."

Anyone with information regarding the case has been advised to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at 813-247-8240.