[Mumbo]

Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico

https://bnonews.com/index.php/2026/0...ng-livestream/

A Mexican social media influencer was shot and killed outside a fast-food restaurant in the western state of Sinaloa, according to local media. The attack happened while he was livestreaming.

The shooting happened at around 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday while Mexican influencer Cesar Gastelum and three other people were recording content outside a KFC restaurant in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Footage from the livestream showed two people on a motorcycle pulling up next to the group before the driver drew a handgun and fired once at Gastelum, striking him in the head. The attackers then fled.

Gastelum died at the scene, according to local media. His body was left near the exit of the restaurant’s drive-thru as police and military personnel secured the area.

Gastelum had nearly 600,000 followers on TikTok. His content included comedy sketches, recurring characters, music covers, videos about his daily life and livestreams.

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The shooters were seen riding past them earlier in the livestream.

[DarkSighted]

Special delivery, for the delivery guy!

[slimjim]

Did he have anything to do with the drug trade? Why would they just kill him like that? Damn

[WayneMan]

“Influencers”…
probably thought the shooters were fans seeking an autograph.

How the heck do so many of these clowns attract millions of viewers? What did they do before the internet came along?

[WayneMan]

Originally Posted by slimjim ↗

Did he have anything to do with the drug trade? Why would they just kill him like that? Damn

Been reading about a lot of “influencers” being murdered this year.
Drugs? Maybe. But it could be envy that these people have pretty glamorous lives for doing very little work. Especially in places like Mexico. Could easily push someone over the edge.

[AllegedlyHere]

“Hitmen cowboys
On a steel horse they ride
Cesar was wanted, wanted
Dead not alive
Wanted, wanted, dead not alive”

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by WayneMan ↗

Been reading about a lot of “influencers” being murdered this year.
Drugs? Maybe. But it could be envy that these people have pretty glamorous lives for doing very little work. Especially in places like Mexico. Could easily push someone over the edge.

In this case police and regional security experts note that local drug cartels frequently use food delivery uniforms and backpacks to disguise hitmen and lookouts. It is possible cartel members misidentified the influencer group as rival gang members or lookouts operating on their turf but i found some other info below.

This influencer was focused purely on comedy, street challenges, and sketches rather than cartel culture.

Gastélum is at least the tenth influencer or digital journalist killed in Sinaloa since 2024. The content creators killed in Sinaloa since 2024 were targeted because they became caught in a brutal online and offline turf war between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Following the arrest of cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in July 2024, a massive violent rift opened between his faction (La Mayiza) and the sons of "El Chapo" Guzmán (Los Chapitos).

In early 2025, a helicopter flew over Culiacán and dropped pamphlets listing 25 local influencers, YouTubers and musicians. The pamphlets, distributed by the La Mayiza faction, explicitly accused these online figures of helping facilitate financial operations and money laundering for Los Chapitos.

Gastélum name wasn't on those pamphlets but he was heavily targeted due to his online links to the warring factions and a deceased influencer who was on the cartel's radar.

That dead influencer was Leobardo Aispuro Soto, known online as El Gordo Peruci. Leobardo Aispuro was a popular Culiacán-based content creator who was shot and killed by an armed commando in December 2024 as part of the initial wave of the cartel turf war.

César Gastélum drew dangerous attention to himself by posting photos on Instagram posing at Aispuro's grave, which cartel hitmen interpreted as a sign of alignment with Aispuro's faction.

[Necrotic Bowel]

Influencers = over educated nitwits with no job and even less common sense

[docfr8]

Impressive enough that the actual operator of the bike was the shooter with his brake hand

[Mr.NoCredit]

There’s a doc on HBO about influencers being murdered or turning into one. I’ll pass on wanting to be known in the world like that. I’m happy just being a nobody.