Seconds later, a thud. A local who just a minute earlier stopped to say hello, ran to help.

He found the elderly man in the middle of Herdsman Parade with significant injuries at about 6.25pm.

David Hankin also went to help.

“Fortunately, there was a couple of doctors with the person on the ground,” he told 9News.

“It’s pretty upsetting. It’s obviously a road that we cross with the kids every day.”

The elderly man’s groceries and other items were flung across the road.

He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, where he later died.

Detectives spent hours today scouring nearby streets for security vision, trying to pinpoint the vehicle and track down the driver.

The victim was just metres from his home when he was hit.

Neighbours say he was a very kind and softly spoken man who lived by himself, with his family interstate.

“There’s obviously a family out there who are grieving at the moment, so hopefully they can find him and her and deal with the matter as quickly as possible,” Hankin said.

Major crash investigators keen to speak to anyone with a dash camera who was in the area at the time.