Mexican social media influencer Cesar Gastelum was shot and killed on Tuesday while livestreaming with friends outside a fast food restaurant in the northwestern city of Culiacan, local authorities said.Gastelum, who had nearly 600,000 followers on TikTok and was known for comedy videos, was streaming live outside a fast food restaurant when two people on a motorcycle, both wearing helmets, approached him and his friends.In a recording of the livestream, the driver of the motorcycle appeared to fire a gun at Gastelum.A security official in Sinaloa State confirmed Gastelum’s death and said a significant security operation was under way.The killing comes amid persistent violence in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, which has been at the center of a conflict between rival organized crime factions competing for control.
The shooting also recalled the killing in May last year of Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez, who was shot to death during a TikTok livestream at the salon where she worked in Zapopan, in the western state of Jalisco.Marquez, 23, was killed after a man entered the salon and opened fire, prosecutors said.Her death was investigated under femicide protocols.Last month, Mexican authorities announced the arrest in Jalisco of Ramon Angel Alvarez Ayala, known as “El R-1,” whom Mexican Minister of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch identified as the leader of a criminal cell linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.Authorities have linked Alvarez Ayala to the killing of Marquez and accused him of ordering the murder in November last year of then-Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo.
