Influencer shot dead in Mexico while live streaming

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• Mexican influencer César Gastelum, 25, was shot dead while live-streaming outside a fast-food restaurant in Culiacán.
• Motorcycle gunmen opened fire on Gastelum as stunned viewers watched online.
• Authorities are probing possible ties to a criminal faction amid a brutal power struggle within the Sinaloa cartel that has left thousands dead.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities on Wednesday were investigating possible links to organized crime in the shooting death of a well-known influencer gunned down while live-streaming in front of a fast-food outlet in the northwestern city of Culiacán, capital of violence-wracked Sinaloa state.

César Gastelum, 25, who was shot dead late Tuesday — apparently targeted by assassins on a motorcycle — had hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and other platforms.

He was the latest in a series of internet personalities targeted in Mexico, dramatizing the potential dangers of social-media presence and commentary.

Police were looking into a possible connection to a “a faction of a criminal group,” Mexico’s Security Cabinet said Wednesday in a statement, without elaborating.

The scheme, known as huachicol fiscal, is the second-largest source of revenue for cartels, after drug trafficking.

Competing factions of the notorious Sinaloa cartel have been engaged in a bloody, almost two-year civil war that has left thousands dead and upended life in Culiacán and elsewhere in the state. Mexico’s government has dispatched thousands of additional troops to Sinaloa, but the bolstered security effort has failed to quell the violence.

Gastelum was known for his often-comical musings on a wide range of topics about life in Sinaloa, but authorities said they were focusing on several comments alluding to organized crime.

Video circulating on social media appeared to capture the moment of the killing, just as Gastelum and two collaborators — dressed in the orange jackets worn by fast-food delivery personnel — were live-streaming on a busy commercial street. The three were smiling and joking, seemingly unaware of any impending attack, the images indicate.

Suddenly, a motorcycle carrying two helmeted riders pulls up behind the three and Gastelum— donning a wide-brimmed western-style hat— turns to the vehicle. One of the riders appears to pull out a pistol and shoots the influencer point blank.

His two colleagues were uninjured, according to Mexican media reports.

The assassins quickly fled the scene. There was no immediate word on any arrests.

Mexican gangs often deploy motorcycle hit squads to take out rivals and other targets.

The attack occurred close to the building housing the Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office, reports indicated.

Gastélum had more than 600,000 followers on TikTok and almost 140,000 on Instagram.

At her morning news conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed that Gastelum’s slaying would not go unpunished. Authorities were seeking both the assassins and masterminds of the crime, the president said. “We have to wait for all the information,” Sheinbaum said.

The killing of Gastelum recalled other strikes against high-profile Mexican social media figures, notably the fatal attack last year against Valeria Márquez, 23, a beauty influencer. She was shot as she streamed live on TikTok from her salon in the city of Zapopan, outside Guadalajara in Jalisco state.

Last week , Mexican authorities said they had arrested Ramón Angel Álvarez Ayala — identified as the leader of a cell affiliated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — in connection with the slaying of Márquez.

The Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels are Mexico’s dominant organized crime syndicates

Márquez’s killing was linked to a romantic relationship between the victim and a son of the detained crime boss, federal Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch told reporters.

The cell leader was also accused of ordering another sensational killing — the assassination last year during a Day of the Dead festival of Carlos Manzo, mayor of the city of Uruapan, in central Michoacán state. Manzo was an outspoken critic of cartel invovlement in extortion and other rackets.

Though the assassinations of other public figures in Mexico have triggered outrage, the recent killing of Carlos Manzo, a mayor in Michoacán, has left many Mexicans wondering if the government can ever confront rampaging cartels.

The killing of Manzo triggerd massive street protests in Uruapan and dramatized how organized crime exerts widespread control in much of Mexico. Authorities have arrested a number of suspects in connection with Manzo’s killing. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel was behind the mayor’s slaying, authorities say.

McDonnell is a staff writer. Sánchez Vidal is a special correspondent.