Mexican influencer shot dead during livestream outside Culiacan restaurant

A gunman shot and killed social media influencer Cesar Gastelum on the night of 4 August 2026 as he livestreamed with two friends outside a KFC in Culiacan, capital of Mexico's Sinaloa state, The Hindu reported, citing video reviewed by the Associated Press. The footage shows two men arriving by motorcycle before one pulls a gun and fires, both flee an attack carried out blocks from the local prosecutor's office during rush hour. Mexico's Security Cabinet and local prosecutors said Gastelum had posted videos "alluding to a faction of a criminal group" but named no organisation or suspect. President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters the "perpetrators must be arrested." Gastelum, who had more than 650,000 TikTok followers and sometimes called himself "belico," was filmed that night wearing a white sombrero, an item rival Sinaloa cartel factions have used to mark territory. His death is the second fatal on-camera shooting of a Mexican influencer in little over a year, after Valeria Marquez was killed livestreaming in Jalisco in May 2025.