César Gastélum, a social media personality with over 500,000 TikTok followers, was fatally shot while livestreaming from outside a restaurant in northern Mexico on Tuesday evening.
Mexican influencer César Gastélum was killed in a shooting while livestreaming on social media from Tres Ríos in Culiacán on Tuesday evening. According to reports, two men on a motorbike approached Gastélum and his companions outside a fast food restaurant, with one of the assailants firing at close range. The incident occurred while Gastélum was filming with friends, all wearing bright orange delivery driver uniforms and bags. The perpetrators fled the scene immediately after the shooting.
Gastélum had built a significant online presence with more than half a million followers on TikTok, where he primarily posted comedy content. Local authorities initially believed the victim was a delivery driver based on his attire, but were later informed of his actual identity. Police and forensic teams have since secured the area and are reviewing cartridge casings and security footage as part of their investigation, though no arrests have been made to date.
This killing adds to a troubling trend of violence targeting social media personalities in Mexico. In 2024, influencer Valeria Márquez, aged 23, was shot dead at a beauty salon while livestreaming on TikTok. The circumstances surrounding Gastélum's death remain unclear, including whether he had received prior threats. However, authorities have noted potential connections to cartel violence, particularly given that another influencer known as "El Gordo Peruci" was killed in December 2024 in what police suggested may have been linked to rivalry between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel. Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, has experienced escalating violence since Los Chapitos and La Mayiza, two cartel factions, began hostilities in September 2024.
