A 23-year-old social media influencer was gunned down while livestreaming from her beauty salon in Jalisco, Mexico, in what prosecutors now suspect was a contract killing carried out by professional assassins. Valeria Marquez, known for her modeling content on TikTok and Instagram, was broadcasting live to her followers on Tuesday, May 13, when a masked gunman entered Blossom Beauty Lounge and fatally shot her in the head and chest.
The moment of her death was captured on video, which has since been removed from TikTok. According to the Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office, Marquez appeared fearful just moments before the attack. "Maybe they were going to kill me. Were they going to come and take me away, or what? I'm worried," she said during the livestream, as reported by the Associated Press.
Denis Rodríguez, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, said investigators believe the attack was planned in advance. Earlier that day, a masked man and a second individual on a motorcycle visited the salon claiming to be delivering a "very expensive" gift for Marquez. After being told she was not present, the men left but returned after she arrived.
The assailants asked directly for Marquez upon their return. "The aggressor arrived asking if the victim (Marquez) was there. So it appears he didn't know her," Rodríguez stated. "With that, you can deduce - without jumping to conclusions - that this was a person who was paid. It was obviously someone who came with a purpose."
Rodríguez noted that murders by motorcycle-riding hitmen, or "sicarios," are increasingly common in Jalisco, a region under the grip of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Just hours before Marquez was killed, a former congressman was shot dead in a shopping mall in nearby Zapopan by two men on a motorcycle. Authorities are investigating whether the two incidents are linked.
Marquez had a following of more than 114,000 on TikTok and 149,000 on Instagram, where her last posts included selfies, fashion shoots, and vacation images aboard yachts and private planes. Her death has reignited national attention on Mexico's worsening femicide crisis and rising violence against influencers.
"This is the worst thing," said Zapopan Mayor Juan Jose Frangie. "It's incredible that one minute you're making a video and then you're murdered. A femicide is the worst thing."
David Saucedo, an independent analyst of Mexican cartels, said that influencers are increasingly entangled in the country's criminal underworld - sometimes as girlfriends, couriers, or informants. "Influencers have become another cog in the machine of organized crime," he told media outlets.
Marquez had not reported any previous threats, and no formal request for security assistance had been filed with local officials, according to Frangie.
The United Nations estimates that around 10 women and girls are murdered each day in Mexico, with only 2% of cases resulting in a conviction. Since 2001, at least 50,000 women have been killed in the country, while 70% of women over age 15 have experienced some form of assault, according to U.N. figures.
