Mexico City: The drive-by shooting death of a Mexican influencer may have been in retaliation for social media posts about a criminal group, authorities said Wednesday.
Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead Cesar Gastelum late Tuesday during a livestreamed broadcast in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, which has been a battleground for warring drug factions.
Gastelum was dressed as a food distributor alongside two friends as part of a social media challenge to his over 500,000 TikTok followers. His audience watched as a motorcycle came to a stop alongside him and one of the two men riding shot him in the head.
The video -- later removed by content moderators - was also recorded on security cameras. "The lines of investigation include numerous publications, some of which refer to a criminal group," Mexico's Security Cabinet posted on X, referring to online posts, without providing further details.
A sprawling war between the two main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel and associated armed groups has left thousands dead or missing in the northwestern state, even as President Claudia Sheinbaum seeks to contain criminal violence. The cartel was founded by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is now imprisoned in the United States.
