MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — The drive-by shooting death of a Mexican influencer may have been in retaliation for social media posts about a criminal group, authorities said Wednesday.

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead Cesar Gastelum late Tuesday during a livestreamed broadcast in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, which has been a battleground for warring drug factions.

Gastelum was dressed as a food distributor alongside two friends as part of a social media challenge to his over 500,000 TikTok followers. His audience watched as a motorcycle came to a stop alongside him and one of the two men riding shot him in the head.