Leonardo Gil, TikTok Star, Dies in Hit-and-Run Crash

Leonardo Gil, a Florida hospital worker who also became a TikTok star, died in a car accident after leaving his hospital shift on Tuesday, Jan. 25. He was 34. Gil worked his way up at Hialeah Hospital in Hialeah, Florida from janitor to endoscopy technician. He used TikTok to share a look at his life at the hospital during the coronavirus pandemic and had over 100,000 followers at the time of his death.

Gil, who moved to Florida from Cuba over 10 years ago, was leaving his night shift at the hospital when he was killed in a hit-and-run crash at around 9:30 p.m. He was riding his motorcycle and collided with a dark-colored SUV, according to surveillance footage Hialeah police released, reports WSVN. “The vehicle ends up pulling over but ultimately flees the scene,” Officer Eddie Rodriguez told the outlet.

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Police are still searching for the driver and vowed to continue investigating until they find them. “We’re going to keep looking for more video,” Rodriguez said. “We’re going to be going up and down every block, and we’re not going to stop till we can find another home, or location, a gasoline station, till we find something that captures the vehicle fleeing and provide us with more information that can help us get to the bottom of this.”

Someone later noticed Gil lying on the side of the road and called 911, his aunt, Katiuska Fernandez, told WSVN on Wednesday. Gil was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died of his injuries. “We are very sad because he was just 34 years old,” Fernandez said.

“Our family right now is just devastated. He only had his motorcycle for like three months, he never had a motorcycle before,” Gil’s niece Delia Acosta told NBC Miami. “We are just devastated because you never expect something like this to happen.”

Gil’s family launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses. In just three days, over 850 people have donated a combined $45,289 to the family. “The family was not prepared for the loss of this loving, kind, selfless young man,” organizer Barbie Mata wrote. “He leaves behind a big, loving, united family including his young son.”

“I know that he left a great legacy and he touched a lot of people’s hearts here in the hospital. He’s been working here since 2010, 2011,” Acosta told WSVN. “We hope that they can find him or her or that this person turns themselves in because it really is an injustice.”

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.