Colombian influencer María José Estupiñán has reportedly died after being shot. She was 22.
President of the National Gender Commission of the Colombian Judiciary, Magda Victoria Acosta, claimed Estupiñán was killed on Thursday, May 15, per CNN. The outlet reported that Acosta claimed the suspect who appeared at Estupiñán’s residence was dressed as a delivery man. He allegedly shot her in her home when she opened the door.
“She was a young, enterprising woman with a whole life ahead of her, but those dreams are cut short like the dreams of many women in this country,” Acosta said, per the outlet.
Acosta claimed that Estupiñán was the victim of a domestic violence case and was about to receive financial compensation as a result, CNN reported. She reportedly attended university in Cúcuta near the Venezuela border.
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Acosta noted that the commission “very strongly” condemned crime. The incident is being investigated by authorities. Acosta did not indicate whether Estupiñán’s death was a suspected femicide, meaning when a woman is presumed to be killed due to her gender.
Days earlier, news broke that 23-year-old influencer Valeria Márquez was shot dead during a livestream. Denis Rodríguez, a spokesperson for the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office, told AP News that Márquez’s death was still under investigation.
Rodríguez claimed that a man posing as a delivery driver and another man on a motorcycle arrived at a Mexico salon and were hoping to deliver a gift to Márquez in person. Márquez began worrying about the incident on the livestream.
“Maybe they were going to kill me,” Márquez said in the video, per the outlet. “Were they going to come and take me away, or what? I’m worried.”
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The men returned and asked for Márquez again — which led prosecutors to believe that they were hired assassins, per Rodríguez.
“The aggressor arrived asking if the victim was there. So it appears he didn’t know her,” Rodríguez said. “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.”
AP reported that Márquez was handed a stuffed animal and a bag of Starbucks coffee during the livestream, where she was shot and collapsed. Following her death, her TikTok appeared to be taken down, but a video of the incident circulated online and was confirmed by the prosecutor’s office.
Per the outlet, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her administration is working with local investigators to locate the assassin and extended her condolences to Márquez’s family. The prosecutor’s office previously told The New York Times that the incident was being investigated as a potential femicide.
