Nashville police say a Bellevue man found shot to death early Monday morning off Highway 100 was killed while chasing car burglary suspects.

Erik Helffenstein, 45, was fatally shot while chasing after people who were breaking into cars outside his Meadow Ridge Circle home, police say.

It was just before 1:30 a.m., Metro Nashville Police said, that Helffenstein and his wife noticed two individuals wearing hoodies were breaking into one of their vehicles.

He went outside to confront them, but did not grab his phone, MNPD said Monday afternoon, so his wife called the police.

Helffenstein got into his own Nissan Pathfinder and followed the suspects, who were in a black SUV.

Officers began canvasing the area, including Highway 100, and found Helffenstein’s vehicle off the roadway in the 7800 block of Highway 100, MNPD reported.

Several rounds had hit his vehicle.

Officer Kevin McGinniss rushed up to the vehicle, saw that Helffenstein had been shot, and immediately began CPR in an urgent effort to save his life, according to MNPD.

Helffenstein was pronounced dead at the scene by responding Nashville Fire Department medics.

Family man

Helffenstein, his neighbors said, was an engaged father and good neighbor who was often seen working in his garage workshop, playing with his kids and ready to lend a ladder or a hand to anyone on the street..

He worked as an electrical engineer for Nissan, neighbor Matt Lowney said, and the family kept to themselves. The family includes two elementary-aged children.

"Erik was a really good dude," Lowney said. "You hate to see this happen to anyone, but especially him. When I heard he went after them, it didn't surprise me. He's that kind of guy. He'd defend what's his."

Lowney's car was also ransacked overnight, he said. Police finished dusting it for prints around 2 p.m., not long after a Metro police Crime Scene Unit van left the Helffenstein home in the 7000 block of Meadow Ridge Circle.

Lowney saw Helffenstein Sunday night at a small fall festival the neighborhood put on.

"You never think it's going to be the last time you see someone," he said.

Community response

Metro Councilman Dave Rosenberg, who serves the Bellevue area, called the death "senseless" in a social media post Monday morning.

The community is "suffering an unsurpassable loss this morning, and our hearts are broken," Rosenberg said.

In response to the shooting, Rosenberg said a community meeting has been scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Bellevue YMCA on Highway 100. Representatives of the MNPD West Precinct are expected to attend the event.

Lowney, who has lived in the neighborhood for approximately five years, said any crime he can remember was mostly "piddly kids stuff, teens messing around."

"Like these pumpkins (on the porch) will probably be in the road on Halloween, but nothing like this," he said.

The suspects were in a dark SUV. Police are asking anyone in the Traceside subdivision of Highway 100 whose vehicle was broken into or who has video of their driveway to call 615-862-8600.

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Reach Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.