Mexican TikTok Blogger Shot Dead Live on Air While Filming a Prank

Cesar Gastelum, a 25-year-old Mexican blogger with over 600,000 followers on TikTok, was killed while filming a comedy challenge. The incident took place outside a fast-food restaurant in a busy shopping center in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state.

Gastelum, alongside two friends, was live-streaming while wearing bright delivery service uniforms, as the young men were shooting a staged courier-style prank.

In the middle of the stream, a motorcycle with two suspects pulled up to them. The driver of the bike fired a fatal shot to the blogger's head, after which the attackers fled. Local police initially mistook the victim for a real delivery worker due to his flashy clothing, but later confirmed the identity of the well-known influencer.

The live stream was interrupted, and TikTok administration promptly blocked the broadcast, but footage from the scene of the attack continues to spread online.

A Wave of Violence Against Influencers in Mexico

This murder has become yet another link in a chain of mysterious and brutal killings of Mexican bloggers, which experts link to the activities of drug cartels. Sinaloa state has long suffered from fierce internal conflicts between criminal factions.

Previously, about a dozen popular content creators died in the region under similar circumstances:

• In 2024, influencer Leobardo Aispuro (known as "El Gordo Peruci"), whose grave Gastelum had visited shortly before his death, was shot dead.

• Around the same time, 29-year-old YouTuber Miguel Vivanco ("El Jasper") was found dead with his hands tied and eyes taped shut—police suspected the "Los Chapitos" cartel gunmen of the execution.

• Earlier, 21-year-old TikToker Karla Pardini became a victim of an attack, and in January of this year, OnlyFans model Nicole Pardo Molina, who sold merchandise featuring drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, was abducted.

The tragedy in Sinaloa occurred against the backdrop of the recent high-profile arrest of one of the leaders of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Ramón Ángel Álvarez Ayala ("El R1"). He is accused of organizing the contract killing of another popular blogger, Valeria Márquez, who was shot dead right in her beauty salon after a conflict with his son.