A 35-year-old man died Thursday after being run over by heavy equipment at an auto parts yard.

Suffolk police and fire departments responded to the 200 block of Philhower Drive, located off East Washington Street near its intersection with Portsmouth Boulevard, about 10:50 a.m. for a report of an injured person.

When crews arrived at McKinney’s Auto Parts, they found an unresponsive man who had been run over by a piece of equipment, which city spokeswoman Debbie George described as a frontloader or forklift.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Preliminary investigation suggests that the victim, an employee of the business, started the equipment from the ground.

“The equipment was possibly in gear when started and backed over him,” George wrote in a press release.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration arrived Thursday afternoon to investigate, George added.

A man who identified himself as the manager would not answer questions about the incident by phone Thursday.

Two men outside the business Thursday afternoon also declined to talk specifically about what happened.

“It wasn’t the way to go,” one said.

The victim’s name had not yet been released late Thursday afternoon.