ATLANTA — Investigators say a deadly crash that shut down Interstate 285 for hours Thursday morning was the result of a wrong-way driver.

Triple Team Traffic helped guide you around the back-ups near Flat Shoals Road on Channel 2 Action News This Morning.

Channel 2′s Tom Jones spoke with the family of Kevin Fitzpatrick, 31, who was killed in the wreck.

They said they weren’t ready to speak on camera, but they want to know how a driver went the wrong way on the interstate, killing their son. Other drivers want to know too.

Shirley Garner said her heart goes out to Fitzpatrick’s family.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s really heartbreaking,” she said.

The father was on his way to work around 3 a.m. Thursday.

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Police say he was traveling in the eastbound lines of I-285 near the Flat Shoals Road exit when a driver going the wrong way crashed into him, killing him.

Garner said she travels in the area all the time and doesn’t see how anyone can enter the interstate and go the wrong way.

“I mean, if you look where you are going and you read the signs way up ahead, you just prepare yourself for it,” Garner said.

Police say the woman who hit and killed Fitzpatrick is in critical condition and will face charges.

Officers have not said where she entered the freeway, but there are signs indicating no turn at the I-285 eastbound entrance at Flat Shoals.

Rodney Morgan also travels the area often. He said only a driver who is not alert could make the mistake of entering the interstate and going the wrong way.

“Sleepy. Checking their phone. These days, nothing surprises me,” Morgan said.

The driver in this case will face charges of reckless driving and felony vehicular homicide.

A third driver was also hit. Police haven’t said if that driver was injured.

Fitzpatrick’s family told Jones that he was a hard worker and had just been promoted.

Cox Media Group