Influencer, 23, Shot Dead During TikTok Livestream Appeared to Be Killed by Hit Men, Prosecutors Say

Prosecutors now believe that hired assassins may be responsible for the death of 23-year-old influencer Valeria Marquez, who was shot dead while livestreaming from her beauty salon in Jalisco, Mexico, earlier this week.

On Tuesday, May 13, Marquez was at her salon, Blossom Beauty Lounge, when, according to initial investigations, a man entered and fired a gun at her, per the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office (JSPO). The moment was caught on a TikTok livestream, as Marquez was actively recording for her followers at the time of her death. 

Denis Rodríguez, a spokesperson for the JSPO, told the Associated Press that hours before Marquez arrived at the salon, a man posed as a delivery driver pretending to have a “very expensive” gift for the influencer.

The man, who was wearing a mask and accompanied by another man on a motorcycle, told a woman in the salon that they had to deliver the gift in person, the AP reported.

After Marquez arrived at Blossom and learned that the men had asked after her, she became fearful, stating that she was “worried” on the TikTok livestream shortly before she was killed, according to the outlet.

“Maybe they were going to kill me. Were they going to come and take me away, or what?” she said in the livestream, per the AP.

The masked man and motorcyclist returned to the Jalisco salon minutes after Marquez expressed her fears, and what they did next led prosecutors to believe that they were hit men.

One of the men asked if Marquez was in the salon, Rodríguez told the AP, “so it appears he didn’t know her.”

“With that, you can deduce — without jumping to conclusions — that this was a person who was paid,” Rodríguez continued, adding that the aggressor was “obviously someone who came with a purpose.”

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Contract killers on motorcycles have become quite common, Rodríguez told the outlet. He also revealed that two men on a motorcycle carried out the murder of a former congressman in the area just hours before Marquez’s death.

Authorities are investigating whether the two deaths are connected.

Rodríguez did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, May 17.

Marquez’s final posts included selfies and professional modeling photos, and she had just posted a now-expired mirror selfie on Instagram Stories when news broke of her tragic death.

At the time of her death, the beauty guru had 149,000 Instagram followers and more than 114,000 TikTok followers, many of whom flocked to both accounts to mourn her.