TikToker Gabriel Salazar died in fiery car crash after police chase, report says

Death not officially confirmed, but friends of social media star say he died in accident in San Antonio, Texas

Gabriel Salazar reportedly died in a car crash in Texas on 26 September, 2021 (@gabenotbabe / TikTok)

TikToker Gabriel Salazar has reportedly died after giving chase to police in a white sports car.

The 19-year-old’s death has not been officially confirmed, but the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office appears to confirm the crash, which occured on Sunday in San Antonio, Texas. The Daily Mail reported that Mr Salazar drove a white Chevrolet Camaro into a tree. The impact killed Mr Salazaar and three others in the vehicle.

Friends paid tribute Mr Salazar as reports that he has died in a car crash began to surface.

(Zavala County Sheriff’s Office)

Mr Salazar went under the username @gabenotbabe on TikTok and had garnered 1.4 million followers.

Friend Ricky Flores posted tributes to Mr Salazar on Instagram.

“Rest easy brother,” he wrote. “Words can’t even explain how I feel right now. Man, I would do anything to get you back right now bro.”

A GoFundMe has been set up that says its goal is to raise money to help the family with the funeral.

Chris Vazquez is listed as the organiser of the fundraiser that had collected $15,500 as of Monday morning.

“I don’t know what’s real and not real anymore but unfortunately Gabe [passed] away [in] a car crash [on] September 26 we couldn’t believe it the moment we found out,” the GoFundMe page says. “Don’t really want to get into details because it’s so hard for us to even talk about the pain he went through. Never expected this [to] happen but now you’re watching over us.”

“Gabriel loved his family and was always horsing around with her sister and little brother,” Mr Vasquez added. “He was always there with a big hug and smile, and his family will never forget those warm moments. He was so funny with a quiet sense of humour and sarcasm. I cannot believe that I am sitting here writing this. How is this real life?”

“Words cannot express the heartbreak our entire community is feeling from the loss of our Gabriel Your family and friends miss you,” the GoFundMe organiser wrote. “We are asking for support for his family. There will be time missed from work and funeral expenses that will be too much for his family to afford. Please consider donating and help relieve at least that sorrow and strain for his parents.”

Another TikTok star, 18-year-old Timothy Hall, who went under the name Timbo the Redneck, died in August when he fell out of the window of his truck while he was doing donuts. His mother Tassie posted a video on his account saying that her son had had a “bad accident”.

“He won’t be making any more videos, no more videos at all,” the mother said. “My son was in a bad accident yesterday and didn’t make it. I wanna thank everybody, for all the fans that he had. He loved TikTok and just believed in all the fans, everybody that supported him, it meant a lot to him.”

“My heart is just so broken,” she added. Mr Hall’s brother in law said in another post that the truck had flipped.

“He passed away this Saturday in a truck crash with his girlfriend, Kori, out in the front yard of his friend Jay’s house,” he said.