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CARACAS: Venezuelan police have arrested an alleged accomplice in the murder of a TikTok influencer who was killed during a livestream after denouncing members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang and allegedly corrupt police officers.
Jesus Sarmiento, who had more than 77,000 followers on the social media platform, was broadcasting live when armed men entered the residence where he was staying and shot him.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced Sunday on Instagram the arrest of Pierina Uribarri, whom he described as the partner of Adrian Romero, the alleged gunman.
Prosecutors charged Uribarri with intentional homicide, criminal association and terrorism.
Arrest warrants had been issued for Romero and two other alleged perpetrators, Wilbert Gonzalez and Gerald Nieto.
In Sarmiento’s final broadcast, banging on a door and a woman’s screams for “help” can be heard in the background.
“They shot me, they shot me,” Sarmiento is heard saying before blood appears on the floor. Two armed men are visible before the broadcast ends.
Sarmiento had spoken in his TikTok posts about the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero, who is one of Venezuela’s most wanted criminals, known by the alias “Nino Guerrero.”
He also posted photos and videos of alleged gang members and denounced extortion by police officers.
The government has maintained that the Tren de Aragua — which the United States considers a “terrorist” organization — has already been dismantled and denies its existence.
In May, a young Mexican influencer was murdered during a live stream in Jalisco state.

Azerbaijan has canceled all cultural events planned by Russian state and private institutions in protest over the deaths of two Azerbaijanis after police raids in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, Azerbaijani officials said Sunday.
Azerbaijan’s Culture Ministry wrote on X that concerts, exhibitions, festivals and performances were canceled on account of “the demonstrative targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence committed by Russian law enforcement agencies against Azerbaijanis on ethnic grounds in Yekaterinburg.”
According to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, Russian law enforcement raided homes of Azerbaijani residents in the industrial city in Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday. Two Azerbaijanis were killed, it said, along with several others seriously injured and nine detained.
The ministry on Saturday summoned the Russian Embassy’s chargé d’affaires in Baku, Pyotr Volokovykh, demanding a full investigation and prosecution of those responsible.
The victims were identified as Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, both around 60 years old. Their brother, Sayfaddin Huseynli, told Azerbaijani public broadcaster ITV that the men were tortured to death “without any trial or investigation, despite their innocence.” He described the raids as “savagery,” claiming that others were beaten and subjected to electric shocks.
“The so-called Russian law enforcement agencies broke into houses in the middle of the night, beat and took people away like animals,” Huseynli said.
The Azerbaijani government also announced the cancelation of a planned visit by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk. “The government of Azerbaijan does not consider it appropriate under the current circumstances for Overchuk or any other official representative of Russia to visit the country,” state media reported.
In a statement, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said it expected “that the matter will be investigated and all perpetrators of violence brought to justice as soon as possible.”
Without commenting on the reported deaths, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday that the raids formed part of an investigation into previously committed crimes. Zakharova said raids and detentions targeted Russian citizens of Azerbaijani descent.
Ties between the two countries have been strained for months. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declined an invitation to attend Russia’s Victory Day parade in Moscow in May. In contrast, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha visited Baku later that month, signaling closer ties between Baku and Kyiv.
Relations between Moscow and Baku cooled after an Azerbaijani airliner crashed in Kazakhstan in December, killing 38 of 67 people aboard. Aliyev said it was shot down over Russia, albeit unintentionally, and rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare. He accused Russia of trying to “hush up” the incident for several days. Putin apologized to Aliyev for what he called a “tragic incident” but stopped short of acknowledging responsibility.