‘He will be missed.’ Ex-Tulare Western football player ID’d as victim in crash in Fresno
The Fresno County Coroner’s Office on Monday identified the victim killed in a crash in northeast Fresno as 22-year-old Andre Aguilar.
Aguilar was killed after a high-speed rollover crash on a low-speed curve on Chestnut Avenue just north of Herndon Avenue late Saturday.
The driver of the vehicle, a BMW 535i, was Malakeh Ghaleb Jaber, 19, who was arrested and on Sunday booked into the Fresno County Jail.
Jaber is facing four felony charges, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence with .08% alcohol causing injury/death, according to jail records.
She did not appear to suffer injuries in the single-car crash.
Speed played a factor in the crash, which occurred about 11:15 p.m.
Aguilar is a former Tulare Western football player who went on to Fresno State and graduated with a degree in agricultural business.
Former Tulare Western coach Ryan Rocha remembered his quarterback who came over from Mission Oak as a junior and explained how much he meant to the program.
“He was a very confident and smart and intelligent athlete and led us to a league championship that year, won seven in a row and took us to Valley the next year,” he said Monday. “Great football player, but academics was high in his life and he knew what he wanted to do. It was great to see him go off to college and just succeed and graduate from college. Definitely fond memories of Andre and really helping elevate Tulare Western. He definitely will be missed.”
Many took to Twitter Sunday to remember Aguilar as a big influence in their lives.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help Aguilar’s family.
This story was originally published August 9, 2021 at 2:53 PM.
