A 15-year-old teenager fatally shot herself while trying to record a video for TikTok.
Yazmín Esmeralda was visiting her grandmother in the Mexican town of Guasave with her mother and younger brother last month. According to Proceso, the teen found the 9-millimeter Uzi submachine gun at the bottom of a bedroom closet. She then asked her younger brother to record her as she held the gun to upload it onto TikTok.
The gun went off, killing the teen instantly—her younger brother, a witness to the tragic incident.
“It was said that the weapon belonged to the father, we have to verify, right? Because when a weapon of this type is found in a home where there are children, clearly the responsibility of who had it and the property will be determined. At first it is mentioned that it belonged to the father, but we still need to corroborate that information,” Sinaloa Attorney General Sara Bruna Quiñonez Estrada told reporters per Proceso.
“We have no information about what the father does. That is not for home use. I even heard the Secretary of Security say that it is a weapon that was discharged from the Army due to its danger. It can never be secured and when it is triggered it cannot be stopped because it unloads all the bullets it carries.”
TikTok has come increasingly under scrutiny after several dangerous “challenges” have encouraged kids to slap teachers and vandalize schools. Other challenges have encouraged children to eat toxic Tide pods, hold their breath until they pass out—some leading to death.
The use of the weapon in the Mexican Army has already been suspended due to the “dangerousness” of the firearm.
María Teresa Guerra Ochoa, Secretary for Women of the Government of Sinaloa, wants answers to how the teen was able to get her hands on the deadly firearm.
“Bringing weapons closer to children or adolescents is a risk factor because the danger is not measured. At that age of youth the risks are not dimensioned. This is a wake-up call so that they understand that, from the State, we take care of them, but also, from within, self-care must be strengthened,” she said.
Guasave is just miles outside of Sinaloa, nicknamed the “drug capital of Mexico.” Sinaloa is home of the Sinaloa Cartel and its infamous leader, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
“That she chose to record a clip [in that way] shows that our youth is immersed in that culture,” said Quiñonez Estrada. “It’s what they hear about at all hours.”
