Human smuggling eyed in deadly crash

TikTok star from S. Texas who was driving died along with three Mexican nationals

Authorities are investigating the Sunday crash that killed 19year-old TikTok star Gabriel Salazar and three Mexican nationals as a human smuggling attempt.

The wreck happened in Zavala County — more than 100 miles southwest of San Antonio, where Salazar lived.

Salazar — who went by @gabenotbabe on TikTok — was known for posting short, humorous lip-sync videos. His profile on the social media platform has more than 1 million followers and over 85 million likes. He posted his final video Sept. 23.

Since Sunday night, Salazar’s Instagram and TikTok posts have been flooded with fans sharing their condolences. Sunday was when his family opened a GoFundMe account to pay for funeral expenses. The online fundraiser said he had died in an auto wreck, but it did not offer further details.

On Tuesday, Hearst Newspapers published a story after the Texas Department of Public Safety revealed that a 19-year-old named Gabriel Salazar who was driving a white Chevrolet Camaro had died along with three passengers after leading police on a chase in Zavala County. Salazar’s last post on Instagram was Sept. 24: a photo of him standing in front of a white Camaro.

And Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations said it was investigating a wreck that killed four people Sunday in Zavala County as a human smuggling attempt.

Also Friday, law enforcement sources confirmed that the only quadruple-fatal wreck there Sunday was the one that killed Salazar and his three passengers.

Salazar’s family has not re

sponded to media inquiries.

DPS internally has listed the three passengers as undocumented foreigners, and the agency started separate traffic fatality and criminal investigations. That’s according to two law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation and the widespread media attention.

“Yeah, it’s a smuggling situation is what it looks like,” said one law enforcement source familiar with the case. “We’ve had smuggling crashes in Del Rio and by Eagle Pass, Uvalde, but the majority are there in Carrizo (Springs) and Crystal City, along (U.S.) 83 all the way down to (Asherton).”

Separately, Homeland Security Investigations said it assisted Zavala County law enforcement with a crash on that date, and it has a parallel investigation. But it stopped short of confirming Salazar was the driver. It referred questions about the matter to DPS.

“On September 26, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Eagle Pass, Texas, assisted Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) in Zavala County with a vehicular accident which occurred near LaPryor, Texas, that resulted in the death of four individuals,” a statement from HSI reads.

“The incident is suspected of being a possible human smuggling event. No additional details are being released at this time” as the criminal investigation continues.

According to DPS, a Crystal City police officer attempted to pull over a white Chevrolet Camaro about 1:20 a.m. Sunday on U.S. 83. Officials said the driver did not stop and continued traveling north toward La Pryor, which is about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio.

The Camaro was headed north, pursued by police, when it went off the right shoulder and into the grass, according to a DPS report.

The driver then overcorrected and crossed the road into the grass on the other side.

There the car hit trees and rolled several times before landing on its roof, according to the report.

The vehicle then caught fire, and all four occupants died. The passengers were identified as Jose Luis Jimenez-Mora, 41; Jose Molina-Lara, 23; and Sergio Espinoza-Flores, 36. Their hometowns in Mexico were not available.

While this pursuit involved a local police department, those involving DPS and smugglers have increased over the last year. Since Gov. Greg Abbott and DPS launched “Operation Lone Star” this year to target smugglers, there have been 711 vehicle pursuits, said Victor Escalón, regional DPS director.

Addressing media at a briefing last month, he said the busiest areas have been in and around Del Rio and the Rio Grande Valley.

The Del Rio section of the border saw 375 pursuits from January through August, up from 32 during the same period last year, he said. And the Rio Grande Valley saw 206 pursuits from January through August, up from 143 last year.

“There’s more people coming across, more troopers, more pursuits,” Escalón said. “It’s inevitable.”