A northwest Georgia man was shot in the head and killed as he drove on I-75 after a night at a bar with his wife and a friend, according to the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, deputies were called to I-75 southbound, just south of exit 348, the sheriff’s office said. The driver, 35-year-old Noel Lopez of Dalton, was dead inside a car stopped on the interstate when deputies arrived.
According to investigators, Lopez’s wife and a female friend were passengers in the car. The three had gone to a Chattanooga bar around 11 p.m. Saturday and consumed alcohol for several hours, the two told police.
“Statements obtained from the occupants indicate there was a mutually physical domestic argument going on between Noel Lopez and his wife in the front seat while they were traveling down the interstate,” the sheriff’s office posted on its Facebook page. “A gun became involved and it discharged, striking Mr. Lopez in the head.”
The interstate was closed for about 2½ hours during the investigation early Sunday. The GBI will conduct an autopsy on Lopez, the sheriff’s office said.
No charges had been filed as of late Monday. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the sheriff’s office.
