Valeria Márquez, TikTok Influencer, Shot Dead During Live Stream in Mexico

Americas|TikTok Influencer in Mexico Is Shot Dead While Livestreaming

A 23-year-old influencer was shot and killed on Tuesday at a beauty salon in Jalisco, Mexico, while she was livestreaming on TikTok, according to the state prosecutor’s office.

The influencer, Valeria Márquez, was working at the salon in Zapopan, part of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, and streaming to some of her 113,000 followers on TikTok, when two men pulled up outside on a motorbike, Denis Rodríguez, a spokesman for the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office, said. One of the men entered the salon wearing a mask, looking for Ms. Márquez.

“He asked her directly: ‘Are you Valeria?’” Mr. Rodríguez said. She responded, “Yes.”

The man then pulled out a gun and shot her before hopping on the motorbike and fleeing.

Ms. Márquez’s TikTok account appeared to have been taken down on Wednesday, but a video of the killing circulating online, which was confirmed by the prosecutor’s office, showed her sitting in a chair at the salon, holding a pink stuffed pig in her lap, before looking away from the camera. A moment later she clutches at her chest and stomach before slumping over in her chair. Another woman’s face is then seen before the video cuts out.

When investigators arrived later, “she was still sitting in the chair, where she was surprised, with that doll, the little pig, right there in her arms,” Mr. Rodríguez said.

The prosecutor’s office said it did not have any suspects, but it was reviewing surveillance footage and combing through her social media for clues as to whom the attackers might be. The men, who visited the shop earlier in the day saying they were trying to deliver a gift for Ms. Márquez, most likely didn’t personally know her, as they had to ask for her by name, Mr. Rodríguez said.