Mexican beauty influencer shot dead during TikTok livestream

by Mick the Ram

A 23-year-old Mexican social media influencer has been shot dead whilst delivering a live stream on TikTok.

Valeria Márquez was killed when a man entered her beauty salon in Zapopan, a suburb of the western city of Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, under the pretence of bringing her a gift.

The popular young woman was sitting at a table holding a stuffed animal seemingly at ease and creating her live content.

Then just moments before the attack she was heard to say: “They’re coming,” before a voice in the background calls out: “Hey, Vale?”

Ms Márquez replied: “yes” and seems to mute the sound on the stream, then appeared to be speaking to someone off-camera, when suddenly she was shot once in the head and once in the chest, killing her instantly.

A person appeared to pick up her phone, with their face briefly showing on the live stream, before the video ended, presumably switched off by either a colleague, or the perpetrator. 

Apparently Valeria had earlier told viewers on her live stream that someone had come to the salon when she was not available, with an “expensive gift” to present to her. This did appear to have spooked Ms Márquez, with the influencer indicating her concern by admitting she was not planning to wait for the person to come back.

Police arrived at the scene around 18:30 local time and confirmed Ms Marquez death, leaving forensic experts to carry out a thorough investigation. 

She had a huge social media following of nearly 200,000 across both TikTok and Instagram, where she put out regular videos relating to beauty and make-up tips, so understandably there has been widespread horror amongst that community, as the news of her dreadful shooting spread.

The region where Ms Marquez had her salon is a hotbed of criminal activity; indeed it is home to one of the country’s most violent drug trafficking groups – the Jalisco New Generation Cartel who have gained notoriety as a powerful and aggressive force across Mexico.

The group has been accused of using fake job advertisements to lure new members and are renowned for their torturous actions. However, early investigations have found no evidence that a criminal group was behind this shooting.

The actual motive for this seemingly senseless and sadly fatal attack, has not as yet been officially identified; but the case is being investigated as a “femicide”, which is when women and girls are killed simply because of their gender. 

Femicide is described as involving degrading violence, sexual abuse, a relationship with the murderer, or the victim’s body being exposed in a public space, according to Mexican authorities.

This incident will further unnerve a nation that already faces high levels of gender-based violence. The UN have recently reported that 10 women or girls are murdered every day by partners or family members and they released figures which showed that since 2001, at least 50,000 women have had their lives taken in Mexico, but only 2% of the cases end in a criminal sentence.

Femicide is not unique to Mexico, with the country tied alongside Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, as the countries with the fourth-highest rates of femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The state of Jalisco is ranked sixth out of Mexico’s total of 32 – including Mexico City – for homicides, with 906 recorded there since the term of office of President Claudia Sheinbaum began, back in October 2024. 

Just a matter of hours after the shocking slaughter of Valeria Márquez, a former congressman with the Mexican PRI party, Luis Armando Córdova Díaz, was shot dead in a cafe, in the same neighbourhood of Zapopan, but the incidents are not thought to be linked.