A YouTuber was found dead after a video of him insulting a notorious cartel boss went viral on social media.
Juan Luis Lagunas Rosales, 17, was a viral social media star from the Mexican state of Sinaloa who adopted the nickname "El Pirata de Culiacán", which translates to "The Pirate of Culiacán" on the internet.
The teenager was known for his videos showing him drinking beer and bottles of whiskey - sometimes getting so drunk he would pass out. By the time he was 17, he had earned 300,000 on Instagram and more than a million followers on Facebook.
According to the Washington Post, one particular video that went viral showed a seemingly intoxicated Lagunas insulting one of Mexico's most dangerous drug lords, Nemesio Ocegera Cervantes, also known as "El Mencho", of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
In the infamous video, the social media star said "El Mencho a mí me pela la verga," which more or less translates to "suck my c***".
After posting the clip, the teenager and his friends were partying at a bar in Jalisco when a group of armed people erupted in and fired at Lagunas, according to Raul Sanchez Jimenez, the Attorney General of Jalisco.
Lagunas sustained between 15 to 18 bullet wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities identified him as one of the victims killed by his tattoos which were of a pirate and a tiger.
Law enforcement and prosecutors have not determined the motives or the identities of those responsible for the gun raid and the teenager's death.
However, according to the Independent, they confirmed to Mexican news publications that they are investigating a possible link between the notorious drug lord and Lagunas' video insulting him.
As of today, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is offering a $10,000,000 reward for the leader - who at the time of 2017 was the boss of one of the fastest-rising drug cartels in Mexico.
El Muncho is wanted on several alleged federal violations, and the DEA urges he might be "armed and dangerous", advising people to not get involved and attempt to "apprehend this individual".
After the social media star's death, Univision reporter Fernando Mexía wrote an article titled "The poisoned fame of 'El Pirata'" and spoke about young people living carelessly during the age of social media.
"He opted to make a career as a broken toy of cyberspace, a path he carved out drink by drink and that left him with enemies of flesh and blood," Mexía wrote.
Before his death, Lagunas acknowledged his behavior was sometimes extreme 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.'"
"[But] they’re right. . . . Sometimes I go too far," he added.
