- TikTok star Gabriel Salazar was pronounced dead on Sunday morning following a car accident.
- Salazar, who is known as “gabenotbabe” on TikTok, has nearly 2 million followers on the app.
- Desiree Monteya and FaZe rug paid tribute on Salazar’s social media posts.
Local authorities have confirmed that Gabriel Salazar (TikTok’s influencer) died on Sunday after a car accident.
Insider learned that Erick Estrada, the Texas Department of Public Safety highway patrol division officer, was among three people who were killed in a car accident in Zavala County in Texas.
Salazar, who was known as “gabenotebabe” on TikTok, joined the app in 2019 and went on to grow his following with content including lip-syncs, comedic sketches, and dance videos with other TikTokers.
Since Monday, when word of Salazar’s death began to spread, tributes flooded his TikTok and Instagram posts. On his latest TikTok, several influencers mourned Salazar, with fellow creator Desiree Montoya commenting “Rip gabe.”
YouTuber FaZe Rug also paid tribute to Salazar, writing in a comment on his Instagram, “I wish it wasn’t true.. RIP man.”
An Instagram account under the name of Danna Salazar, who appears to be Gabriel’s older sibling, posted photos purportedly of Gabriel and themselves on their story Monday night. The account holder wrote in Spanish, “I’d give anything to have you here with us, we need you so much. I’ll no longer be able to see your beautiful smile. I love you little brother. I hope to see you soon.”
The account also posted details of Salazar’s purported funeral. According to the post, the funeral took place on Wednesday from 4pm at a funeral home in San Antonio, Texas. The Instagram account owner seemed to live-stream their funeral via their Instagram Story. Insider reached out to them for comment but they did not respond.
Estrada confirmed to Insider that Salazar was involved the fatal crash on Sunday at 1:25 am. He added that preliminary investigations by the Texas Department of Public Safety revealed the car, which was driven by Salazar, “drove off the road, over-corrected, and traveled across the roadway, onto the west barrow ditch.” The car, which investigators identified as a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro, “struck some trees, rolled several times, and […] caught fire.”
Chris Vazquez, a fellow TikTok star with 1.3 million followers who was often featured in Salazar’s TikTok content, launched a GoFundMe campaign on Monday entitled “Gabe’s memorial fund” to support Salazar’s family with funeral costs.
In the description of the page, Vazquez wrote, “I don’t know what’s real and not real anymore,” and said Salazar had died in a car crash on Sunday. “We couldn’t believe it the moment we found out. Don’t really want to get into details because it’s so hard for us to even talk about the pain he went through,” This is the text of the fundraiser.
As of writing, the campaign had raised over $37,000. Insider did not receive a response from Vazquez to our request for comment.
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