Influencer shot dead in Mexico while livestreaming: Suspect arrested in cartel-hit Sinaloa

Representative image (IANS photo)

Mexico has arrested a man suspected of shooting dead influencer Cesar Gastelum during a livestream earlier this month, authorities said Wednesday, as investigators linked the killing to his social media posts.Gastelum was attacked on August 4 while livestreaming in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, a region caught in a violent conflict between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.Gastelum, who had more than 500,000 followers on TikTok, was dressed as a food delivery worker and taking part in a social media challenge with two friends when a motorcycle stopped beside him. One of the two riders then shot him in the head.Mexico’s Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said the suspected gunman was located in Puebla state in central Mexico.Police officers came under attack from three armed individuals during the arrest operation, Harfuch said on X. Officers killed one of the attackers and arrested the alleged killer of Gastelum along with another person.A preliminary investigation found that the influencer’s killing was linked to his social media posts “alluding to a faction of a criminal group,” Mexico’s security secretariat said.The killing comes amid a violent conflict between the two main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel and allied armed groups in Sinaloa. The fighting has left thousands of people dead or missing as President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government seeks to curb organised crime and violence.The Sinaloa Cartel was founded by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a prison sentence in the United States.Culiacan is also regarded as a centre of Mexico’s “narco-culture”, where the lives of drug traffickers are celebrated on social media and in popular culture. Mexican media have reported that some social media influencers have links to rival criminal groups, making them targets of intimidation and retaliation.