Shot in Plain Sight
Southern California fitness advocate Gloria Zamora led a very active lifestyle. The 40-year-old mother of seven worked as a manager, running a clothing line and as a fitness coach. Although perfectly content with privately hitting the gym, her occasional workout posts on social media started to gain attention. She initially built a following on TikTok in July 2023—amassing more than 95,000 followers—then soon after on Instagram, and seemed destined toward great success in fitness.
However, she believed the men in her life were holding her back. In a June 2025 episode of the Herizon podcast, Zamora lamented how she left one abusive relationship only to marry into another and found herself going through a divorce. Zamora felt that her second husband, Thomas Alberto Tamayo Lizarraga, didn’t support her dream. The internet personality recalled how he kept “bringing me down, mentally.” Envious of her success, Zamora claimed he told her, “You think that you’re a fitness influencer all of a sudden?”
On June 25, Zamora met with her business partner Hector Garduno for dinner. Lizarraga suspected she was having an affair with Garduno and shot them outside a sushi restaurant in Fontana. An off-duty sheriff’s deputy heard the blasts and rushed to the scene, where he confronted Lizarraga, who was shot and killed.
The Wrong Kind of Following
Fans and experts alike are shocked by this grisly trend. Unfortunately, it might just be the new price of fame.
“Influencers live highly visible lives, often blurring the line between public and private,” Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, a Harvard-trained clinical psychologist, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “That visibility can attract admiration, but unfortunately also resentment, envy or fixation from individuals who feel triggered by their success, opinions or mere presence. Having such intimate access to the status, success and wealth of influencers can make them easy targets and receptacles to aggression, violence and anger amongst their followers.”
The bigger the following, the greater the risk. Adds Romanoff: “A large platform brings more eyes, and among them can be people struggling with boundaries or mental health. The digital stage of Instagram or TikTok can unintentionally become a lightning rod for anger, projection or obsession.”
Aside from the common denominator of being influencers, the vast majority of the slain creators were female, prompting some to worry that they were victims of femicide. One of the earliest influencer murders involved Iraqi model Tara Fares, who in 2018 was shot three times in the head. The Yemeni site Al-Masdar News reported that the murder appeared “to be part of a pattern of violence that has targeted Iraqi female social media influencers.” Mexican authorities are investigating the death of Márquez as a possible femicide.
Has the Influencer Era Peaked?
One silver lining may be the increase in influencer fatigue. While Gen Z tends to give more weight to the ramblings of their favorite TikToker versus experts with PhDs (a 2024 Pew Research Center analysis found that 39% of Americans between ages 18 and 39 get their news from TikTok), most are not as enamored with creatives. As the economic uncertainty from tariffs, slow growth and fear of recession takes root, the fortunes of influencers are impacted, too. Brands spent 10% less for online creator advertising this year compared to the year before, according to The Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2025. This decline in interest could translate into less violence.
Depending on how one defines “influencer,” they could argue that Warhol was the world’s first victim of fame. A deluded hanger-on shot Warhol in 1968. He survived the assault, only to die from surgery prompted by injuries he sustained two decades earlier. If Warhol were still alive, he would likely be proud of the millions of online creatives practicing their craft today.
