Teenage YouTuber was murdered after insulting cartel boss in viral video
A 17-year-old YouTuber was found dead with at least 15 bullet wounds after a video of him insulting a notorious cartel boss went viral.
Juan Luis Lagunas Rosales, born in Mexican state of Sinaloa, began sharing videos online after he left school at 15 and started drinking heavily.
He took on the nickname 'El Pirata de Culiacán', which translates to 'The Pirate of Culiacán', and by the time he was 17 had earned more than a million followers on Facebook and 300,000 on Instagram.
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Videos showed Lagunas chugging beer and bottles of whiskey, at times getting so drunk he would pass out despite being younger than the legal drinking age of 18.
In a bid to look older, Lagunas even got tattoos and drew a beard on his chin.
In 2017, Lagunas shared a video in which he insulted one of Mexico's most dangerous drug lords, Nemesio Ocegera Cervantes, also known as 'El Mencho', of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The phrase he used loosely translates to 'suck my c***', and Lagunas directed it straight at El Mencho.
After the video was shared online, Lagunas was out partying at a bar in Jalisco when a group of armed people burst in and fired at the 17-year-old, according to the attorney general of Jalisco at the time, Raúl Sánchez Jiménez.
Lagunas suffered at least 15 bullet wounds and was declared dead, with authorities identifying him by the tattoos on his arms; one of a pirate, and one of a tiger.
Prosecutors launched an investigation into the link between the death and the video showing Lagunas insulting El Mencho, who at the time was the leader of one of the fastest-rising drug cartels in Mexico.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is currently offering a $10,000,000 (£8.5m) reward for the notorious boss, who is wanted on a number of alleged federal violations.
The DEA advises he might be 'armed and dangerous', telling the public they should 'not attempt to apprehend this individual'.
Last year, authorities in Mexico arrested El Mencho's wife, Rosalinda González, under suspicion of running the cartel's finances. She was arrested in Zapopán before later being released on bail.
Prior to his death, Lagunas admitted his behaviour was sometimes excessive as he told radio host Pepe Garza: “People ask me, ‘How do you do it? How do you handle drinking so much? I just laugh, I say ‘I don’t know how I do it.’”
He added: "[But] they’re right. . . . Sometimes I go too far.”
Topics: World News, Crime, YouTube, Drugs
Emily Brown