by Abbey Snow

Friday morning a man was hit by a semi-truck in Mesquite on highway I-15 before exit 122 near the Rising Star Sports Ranch.

Quinn Averett is the public information officer for Mesquite Police Department.

Averett said he can’t conclude if it was an accident or attempted suicide at this point. The man was in the two lanes of travel and the driver could not have swerved away or diverted his semi to avoid hitting the man.

MPD are investigating to see if there are connections with the man struck and the burglaries that took place Thursday night at three locations in Mesquite.

“We do believe it is that same person that committed the burglaries based on the clothing only,” Averett said. “We do not have official identification of the body yet because of the damage that occurred to it. We are waiting on DNA, fingerprints, and so forth.”

According to Averett, MPD has officially identified the suspect who committed the three burglaries. However, they can’t officially connect him with the death on the freeway based only on the clothing. They must wait for positive DNA and other identification to come through before notifying the family and the public.

As more information is verified in the next few days, MPD will release it to the public, Averett said.