A Mexican social media influencer with 650,000 followers on TikTok has been killed while he was doing a livestream, authorities have said. Cesar Gastelum was shot dead on Tuesday in Culiacan, the capital of Mexico’s volatile Sinaloa state. “We must find out why this deplorable homicide occurred,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told journalists during a Wednesday morning news conference. In May 2025, 23-year-old beauty influencer Valeria Marquez was also shot dead while livestreaming on TikTok, in the central state of Jalisco. AdvertisementSoon after, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions against five leaders of a Mexican drug cartel, including the prime suspect in Marquez’s murder.