SANTA FE, Texas—A school day ended in tragedy in Santa Fe Friday when a student was killed in a freak accident while walking down the street.

The 17-year-old Santa Fe High School student was walking down a two-lane road with his girlfriend around 12 p.m. when the back of his neck was sliced open by stop signs hanging out of a passing pickup truck.

“It just hurts so bad,” Samantha Simmons, the victim’s girlfriend, said. “It just happened so fast.”

The pickup truck was driven by a fellow student.

Witnesses said the teen never knew what hit him.

“He was walking, and it got him in the back of the head and he died instantly,” friend Paul Alexander said.

The student driving the vehicle, an 18-year-old female, stopped after the accident, but it was too late for the victim.

Police said the student driving the truck is distraught over the incident is not facing charges.

“The driver was panicking and crying. She was telling me that she was sorry,” Simmons said.  

The signs in the back of the pickup were stolen a few days ago, but investigators said it’s not clear if the teen driving the truck was involved in that theft.

“We actually had plans this weekend. But everything changed,” Simmons said.