<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Valeria Marquez was addressing her TikTok followers in a livestream from her beauty salon in Zapopan, Mexico, when someone arrived at her door to deliver a small parcel.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He's a little piglet!" the 23-year-old beauty influencer exclaimed as she returned to her viewers and unwrapped the stuffed animal, smiling as she tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Moments later she was dead, slumped over in her chair with blood pooling on the desk in front of her, even as the livestream continued.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/melbourne-house-fire-bentleigh-east-person-jumps-from-balcony/0de29298-40ef-4373-b529-6aae34353483"><strong><span>Resident leaps from balcony to escape Melbourne house fire</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The footage ended only when another person picked up her phone, their face momentarily showing to viewers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>According to the state of Jalisco's Attorney General's office, Marquez was shot dead by a male intruder into her salon in a case it is investigating as a suspected femicide – the killing of a woman or girl for gender-based reasons.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The death of Marquez – a public figure with more than 100,000 Instagram followers – has sent shockwaves through a country that has long struggled with high levels of both homicide and violence against women.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/tiktok-beauty-influencer-shot-dead-during-live-stream-in-mexico/f2b84ecb-f81b-4f2e-a26d-d73002384fe5" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Just days earlier, another woman – a mayoral candidate in the state of Veracruz – was also shot dead during a livestream, alongside three other people.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While not all homicides involving women are femicides, many are.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/mackenzie-anderson-murder-tyrone-thompson-sentence-to-be-appealed-by-prosecutors/1e61f9c5-87da-403b-9406-ec914785c3ab" rel="" target="_blank" title="Grieving mum welcomes appeal of DV murderer's sentence"><strong><span>Grieving mum welcomes appeal of DV murderer's sentence</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2020, a quarter of female killings in Mexico were investigated as femicides, with cases reported in each one of Mexico's 32 states, according to Amnesty International.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Last year, there were 847 reported cases of femicide nationwide, – and 162 in the first three months of this year, according to Mexican government figures.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mexico's response to homicides in general is severely wanting, according to rights groups, who say too few investigations lead to prosecution.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In 2022, around 4,000 women were killed in Mexico, which amounts to 12 per cent of all homicides that year," Human Rights Watch Americas Director Juanita Goebertus told CNN.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And the rate of cases that lead to a verdict is around 67 per cent."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The main challenge, Goebertus said, is increasing authorities' capacity to investigate and protect witnesses and victims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>CNN has reached out to the Attorney General's office for more information.</span></div></div>