Former homeless man got a fresh start. Then a car struck and killed him on a Macon road.

A formerly homeless 65-year-old Macon man who’d gotten a fresh start with the help of a friend was struck and killed by a car Friday night.

Robert Lamar Williams, a Baxley native, was pronounced dead at the scene on Gray Highway in front of a McDonald’s restaurant, said Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones. The restaurant is near Interstate 16.

Williams was crossing the roadway just before 8 p.m. Friday when he was struck by a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria, according to a Bibb County Sheriff’s Office news release.

The car’s driver told deputies that he did not see Williams, the release said.

Nearly four years ago, Williams was living in a car, said Shirniqua Parker, who said she befriended him and helped him get back on his feet.

“He was a loving person,” the 44-year-old Parker said.

Williams’ nickname was “Fish” and he was a military veteran, but Parker said she did not know of which branch. She helped him get his veteran’s benefits started, she said.

Parker said she met Williams through her brother, who also had befriended him and played cards with him.

At the time, Parker had a house on Green Street that she wasn’t living in and she moved Williams into it, she said. Williams lived there until a storm damaged the home, she said.

He next lived at the Salvation Army for awhile and then was able to afford an apartment at Raintree Apartments on Graham Road, Parker said. He was living in the apartment there at the time of his death, she said.

Williams worked for Horne Brothers Construction in Dry Branch and at Bass Pro Shops in Macon, Parker said. He paid someone to drive him to and from work, she said.

Based on the the first call to 911 on Friday night, deputies were initially dispatched to a report of a person shot at 550 Gray Hwy., according to the sheriff’s news release.

A witness said they thought a shooting had occurred based on Williams’ injuries, but did not actually see one, the release said. Williams suffered severe trauma to his head, Jones said.

Deputies did not find any evidence of a shooting after searching the roadway, the release said, and the death is being investigated as a pedestrian fatality.

An autopsy is expected at a Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab to confirm the manner of death, Jones said.

Anyone with information about this accident is asked to contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500.

This story was originally published March 14, 2020 at 12:22 PM.