Gunman kills Mexican TikTok influencer during live stream

Authorities implied the killing linked to cartel violence but did not blame any particular group

A gunman killed a social media influencer during a live stream in Mexico’s volatile northwestern state of Sinaloa, authorities said on Wednesday, a public killing that underscored ongoing violence targeting social media personalities in the Latin American nation.

The influencer, Cesar Gastelum, was killed on Tuesday night in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan, officials said. Mexican authorities implied the killing of the young man was linked to cartel violence but did not blame any particular group.

A video of the moment of his death, which was viewed by Associated Press, shows him laughing with two other men in the car park of a Kentucky Fried Chicken when two men pull up on a motorcycle. One is seen pulling out a gun and shooting Gastelum. The attackers then flee the scene.

The attack was carried out just blocks away from the local prosecutor’s office during rush hour.

Mexico’s Security Cabinet and local prosecutors said an investigation was ongoing, and that it appeared Gastelum had released some videos in which he “alluded to a faction of a criminal group”.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told journalists during her morning news conference on Wednesday that the “perpetrators must be arrested”.