Culiacan, Mexico - A Mexican influencer was shot dead on Tuesday while streaming live on social media outside a restaurant in Sinaloa state.

Cesar Gastelum, who had more than 500,000 followers on TikTok, was broadcasting with two friends – all dressed as food delivery workers as part of a challenge.

Video circulating online showed a motorcycle carrying two people pull up beside them before the driver reportedly shot him in the head.

Local police confirmed Gastelum's death.

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The livestream was halted and later removed by the platform, though footage and images of the attack have continued to circulate.

Local police initially reported the death of a delivery worker, but later identified the victim as Gastelum, who was reportedly 25 years old and posted lifestyle content.

The attack took place in a busy shopping plaza near the Sinaloa prosecutor's office in Culiacan, the state capital.

Soldiers and police were deployed while forensic experts collected evidence and removed the body, according to footage from local TV stations.

The district has been troubled over the past two years by internal struggles within the powerful local cartel.

Around a dozen influencers – some allegedly linked to criminal gangs – have been killed in recent years in Sinaloa, local media said.