Mexican influencer is shot dead during TikTok livestream

Mexican social media influencer Cesar Gastelum was shot dead while livestreaming outside a restaurant in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, in an attack authorities said may be linked to his online posts about a criminal group.

Gastelum, who had more than 600,000 followers on TikTok, was killed Tuesday as he broadcast with two friends in a busy shopping plaza near the Sinaloa prosecutor’s office. The three were dressed as food delivery workers as part of a challenge, CBS News reported.

Video of the livestream reviewed by news agencies showed a motorcycle carrying two people pull up beside the group. One of the men appeared to draw a gun and shoot Gastelum before the attackers fled. Al Jazeera, citing The Associated Press, reported that the shooting took place in the car park of a Kentucky Fried Chicken and that Gastelum had been laughing with two other men moments before he was shot.

Local police confirmed Gastelum’s death. Authorities initially reported that a delivery worker had been killed, but later identified the victim as Gastelum, who was reportedly 25 and known for lifestyle content. The livestream stopped and was later removed by the platform, though images and footage of the attack continued to circulate online.

Mexico’s Security Cabinet said Wednesday that investigators were examining whether the killing was retaliation for Gastelum’s social media posts. “The lines of investigation include numerous publications, some of which refer to a criminal group,” the cabinet posted on X, without giving further details.

Local prosecutors and the security cabinet said the investigation remained open and that Gastelum appeared to have released videos in which he “alluded to a faction of a criminal group,” according to Al Jazeera. The outlet also reported that Gastelum used the term “belico,” which is often used in Mexican subcultures to imply a connection to cartel culture.

“We must find out why this deplorable homicide occurred,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters at a Wednesday morning news conference. “Perpetrators must be arrested.”

Footage from local television stations showed soldiers and police deployed at the scene while forensic workers gathered evidence and removed the body, CBS News reported.

Sinaloa has faced intense violence linked to fighting between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. Al Jazeera identified the factions as Los Mayos and Los Chapitos, and reported that bodies have been left across Culiacan marked with the signature of one faction or the other. CBS News reported that the district has been troubled for the past two years by internal struggles within the powerful local cartel.

Gastelum’s killing follows other attacks on social media figures in Mexico. In May 2025, 23-year-old beauty influencer Valeria Marquez was shot dead while livestreaming on TikTok in the central state of Jalisco. Prosecutors said she appeared to have been killed by a hit man and had expressed fear before the attack, CBS News reported.

Al Jazeera reported that the U.S. Treasury Department later imposed sanctions on five leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, including Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, whom the department described as the prime suspect in Marquez’s murder and her alleged romantic partner. On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced rewards of up to $102 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of eight leaders of that cartel.

CBS News reported that local media in Sinaloa have said around a dozen influencers, some allegedly linked to criminal gangs, have been killed in the state in recent years. In January 2025, a small plane was reported to have dropped pamphlets in Culiacan threatening around 20 artists and YouTubers over alleged dealings with a warring faction of the Sinaloa drug cartel.