Influencer Shot Dead During TikTok Livestream in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — A social media influencer was shot to death during a TikTok livestream at a beauty salon in Jalisco, Mexico, authorities confirmed Wednesday. The incident has stirred outrage and shock across the nation amidst ongoing violence linked to rival drug cartels.

Valeria Márquez, 23, was livestreaming on Tuesday when she was speaking to a delivery man off-camera. Suddenly, she was shot once in the chest and once in the head, collapsing immediately and dying at the scene. The beauty salon is located in Zapopan, near Guadalajara.

The violence continued to escalate as just hours later, former congressman Luis Armando Córdova Díaz, from the PRI party, was also shot dead at a cafe in the same region. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is known to have a strong hold over the area, complicating investigations.

State prosecutors are looking into Márquez’s death as a potential femicide, a troubling reflection of gender-based violence that is prevalent in many parts of Latin America.

Her social media profiles have since been inundated with condolences and messages of shock from followers mourning her tragic death.