CNN
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Authorities say a Venezuelan influencer who criticised both gangs and corrupt policemen, who allegedly shot and killed a corrupt police officer on Monday.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Public Safety said in an Instagram statement that influencer Gabriel Jesus Salmiento has passed away in the city of Malacay.
Salmiento often criticised criminal groups, law enforcement corruption online, and law enforcement corruption online, adding that his death died shortly after reporting “a threat posed against him by suspected GEDOS (organized crime structured group in Spanish) and police officers.”
Malacai is the capital of Aragua and is the area that is named by the infamous Tren de Aragua Gang, but there is no known connection between Tiktalker’s death and criminal groups.
CNN contacted police in Aragua for comment.
The ministry also said it was assigned to the 69th Prosecutor’s Office for organized crime to “investigate, identify and prosecute” the person responsible for Sarmiento’s death.
In the recording of the live stream of Salmiento seen by CNN, a woman can be heard screaming offscreen, but the man asks why she is screaming.
“What happened, what happened?” The man screams in the recording, followed by a massive explosion of gunfire.
“They shot me!” the man cried out. The video ends with images of two unidentified armed men. After a few seconds, the live stream will stop and the video will end.
Salmiento’s death comes for just over a month after another Latin American influencer was killed during live streaming. Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez was shot dead at a salon in Jalisco in May, sparking outrage over the high rates of murder in the area.
A few days before Marquez’s death, another woman – a mayoral candidate from Veracruz – was shot and killed during a live stream along with three others.
CNN is making an effort to contact Salmiento’s family and Venezuela Attorney General Tarek William Saab.
