A fitness influencer accused of gunning down his own parents and shooting his teenage brother allegedly told police he was acting on “God’s will” – he has since been arrested
A bodybuilding influencer has been arrested on suspicion of killing his parents and critically wounding his young brother. Ángel Rodríguez Mora, 30, was detained at the family home after neighbours reported screaming and gunfire.
Police officers found the suspect’s parents dead from bullet wounds and the 13-year-old boy was seriously injured. The influencer told the police that he was obeying a “divine mandate”.
The alleged attack took place in the city of San Pedro Cholula, Mexico, in the early hours of Sunday morning (July 26). Mora’s father, Ángel Ponciano, 70, and mother, Luz Maria Morales, 54, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Paramedics stabilised the suspect’s teen brother and rushed him to hospital where he remains in a serious condition under reserved prognosis.
Ángel reportedly called the emergency services himself. Officers on the scene found the door open and the suspect behaving erratically.
He allegedly told them: “Come into my house, come and see how God is calling me and wants his will to be done. Come up to my paradise.”
He was arrested on the spot and handed over to the Public Ministry as the prime suspect for homicide and causing injury. Officials are also examining claims of earlier domestic violence within the family.
Investigators are now looking closely at what led up to the horror. Reports claim Ángel had been battling severe substance addiction.
Ángel had left a drug rehabilitation centre just two weeks earlier, according to reports. He works as a personal trainer and bodybuilding coach at a local gym.
Although he was known locally for gym work and personal training, the gym he had been linked with issued a statement after the tragedy saying he had been dismissed days earlier and was no longer authorised to represent them. Ángel is also a content creator with 13,000 Instagram followers.
He posts regular Instagram content about workout routines, nutrition plans and fitness tips. Hours before the killings, he shared a final Instagram Story video.
In the clip, he spoke with intense religious fervour, urging true believers in Jesus Christ to knock on doors and come to his house in the Cholula area. In a final Instagram Story video posted hours before the attack, he reportedly appeared manic, saying “Christ is providing houses and food” and urging people in Puebla and Cholula to come to his home and knock on the door.
Ángel remains in custody of the State Attorney General’s Office of Puebla (Fiscalía General del Estado de Puebla). Prosecutors have opened a case for double qualified homicide and aggravated assault, and he is undergoing psychiatric evaluation as investigators examine the role of his mental state and any possible relapse.
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