MEDINA COUNTY, Texas \u2013 A popular food influencer was shot and killed by a Medina County Sheriff\u2019s deputy last week after the sheriff\u2019s office said he threatened to kill her. <\/p>\n
A Medina County Sheriff\u2019s Office (MCSO) spokesperson identified the deceased as Michael Anthony Duarte, 39. <\/p>\n
In a sheriff\u2019s office statement, the deputy was dispatched on a disturbance call just before 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 8 in an area near the 1500 block of Houston Street in Castroville. <\/p>\n
A law enforcement source told KSAT that the initial 911 call was a mental health disturbance at a rental property at the Houston Street location. <\/p>\n
MCSO said the call involved a \u201cmale subject with a knife acting erratically.\u201d <\/p>\n
Authorities said a sheriff\u2019s deputy responded to the scene to back up Castroville police officers who was already in the area west of the original location. <\/p>\n
Upon arrival at the property, the sheriff\u2019s office described Duarte as \u201cexhibiting erratic behavior\u201d and making multiple threats to \u201ckill everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to the sheriff\u2019s office, the deputy told Duarte to get on the ground multiple times. However, the statement said, Duarte ran towards the deputy and threatened her with her weapon drawn. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to kill you,\u201d MCSO recalled Duarte yelling at the deputy. In response, the deputy shot Duarte twice, the sheriff\u2019s office said. <\/p>\n
Emergency personnel began rendering aid to Duarte. Authorities said Duarte was later transported to University Hospital in San Antonio, where he was pronounced dead. <\/p>\n
In a separate statement, a Texas Rangers spokesperson said that they were \u201cassisting\u201d in the investigation into the deadly sheriff\u2019s deputy shooting. <\/p>\n
The law enforcement source also told KSAT that Duarte was in Medina County for the Texas Open Fire Meat Up, a barbecue festival scheduled for Nov. 8 in Hondo. <\/p>\n
An Oct. 24 Instagram post from Texas Open Fire Meat Up appeared to confirm Duarte\u2019s upcoming appearance at the festival. <\/p>\n
An Oct. 24 Instagram post from Texas Open Fire Meat Up appeared to confirm Michael Duarte\u2019s upcoming appearance at the Nov. 8 festival in Hondo. (@openfiremeatup on Instagram)<\/p>\n
Duarte, whose social media handle was @foodwithbearhands, posted food and cooking videos that amassed more than 2,100,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. <\/p>\n
According to a pinned post on his Instagram page, Duarte grew up in Calipatria, a small town in California located approximately 140 miles east of San Diego and 30 miles north of the California-Mexico border. <\/p>\n
While working at various San Diego-area restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duarte wrote that he began posting food videos online, including one with his daughter. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I realized how happy creating content made me,\u201d Duarte wrote in the Oct. 25 Instagram post. \u201cOver time, I began to see it wasn\u2019t just a hobby \u2014 it could be a business, (sic) something bigger than myself.” <\/p>\n
Alooma Media Group, the agency who represented Duarte, described him as \u201ca remarkable person\u201d in an Instagram post on Monday. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis warmth, kindness, and generosity were felt in every interaction, and he had a way of making everyone around him feel valued and inspired,\u201c the agency wrote, in part. \u201dMichael\u2019s passing is a tremendous loss to all who knew him. His legacy of integrity, compassion, and dedication will continue to live on through the lives he touched.\u201d <\/p>\n
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health or thoughts of suicide, call 988 or text TALK to 741-741.<\/p>\n
You can also reach out to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) or the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) at 210-223-7233 (SAFE) or 800-316-9241. You can also text NAMI to 741-741.<\/p>\n
More local news coverage on KSAT: <\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEDINA COUNTY, Texas \u2013 A popular food influencer was shot and killed by a Medina County Sheriff\u2019s deputy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10294,27513,27514,27,29,28,429],"class_list":["post-47750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-castroville","tag-medina-county","tag-medina-county-sheriffs-office","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}