Street Race Kills 3 Innocent People in Fresno’s Hmong Community

Officers identified the suspect as Irvin Villarreal, 18, who also died when he ran a red light and crashed into the victims’ vehicles during a street racing over the weekend at around 11:40 p.m., on Bullard and Palm avenues, KSEE reported.

 

Villarreal was driving a black Mustang and racing a Camarao down Blackstone Avenue at 75 miles per hour when a motorcycle officer attempted to pull over the vehicles, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The driver of the Camaro managed to pull over, but Villarreal failed to stop and sped off in an excess of 100 mph.

Villarreal then drove past a red light at the intersection of Bullard Avenue and Palm Avenue when he collided with a white pickup truck and a Mini Cooper.

Fresno residents Christopher Vang, 27, and cousins Linda Chang, 21, and Allison Chang, 17, were all killed in the crash along with Villarreal.

Two others, and the driver of the Mini Cooper, were rushed to the hospital.

A GoFundMe has been created to help out the families.

“The goal is set at $30,000 primarily for funeral expenses. Caskets are around $5,000 each and burial plots about $3,500 each,” the campaign said.

Fresno City Council Member Mike Karbassi is working with the Fresno Center and executive director Pao Yang to raise $30,000.

“In their (Hmong) culture, the funeral process is very intricate. It’s very essential,” he said during the news conference on Monday.

Investigators are waiting on toxicology reports to determine if Villarreal had drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the collision.

Feature Image via CBS47 KSEE24