A Canadian citizen was shot by a lone gunman in Teotihuacan and 13 other people, including a Russian tourist, were wounded.
A lone gunman has killed a Canadian tourist and wounded several others, including a Russian citizen, at the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan, Mexico. According to Mexican officials, the attacker took his own life after being injured and surrounded by security forces.
The UNESCO-protected pre-Columbian archaeological site near Mexico City is one of the country’s top tourist attractions, attracting about 2 million visitors annually.
At about 11:30 p.m. on Monday, a man armed with a handgun ordered a group of tourists to lie down on top of the pyramid and then fired several shots at them, as seen in eyewitness video circulated online.
In a video apparently recorded by one of the hostages, the gunman is heard threatening foreign tourists and saying that the pyramid was originally built for human sacrifice.
At one point, some of the frightened visitors apparently began running for their lives, suffering injuries as the structure collapsed, while others suffered gunshot injuries.
According to the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico, National Guard troops responding to the incident shot the attacker in the leg. Once surrounded, he took his own life with his revolver.
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A revolver, ammunition, knife and voter identity card were recovered from the spot. According to local media, the document belongs to Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez, 27, of Mexico City.
Additionally, an AI-generated image of the attacker along with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold – the perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre – were reportedly recovered at the crime scene. Monday marks the 27th anniversary of this tragedy.
The Canadian Embassy in Mexico confirmed this on Tuesday “As a result of a horrific act of gun violence, one Canadian was killed and another was injured in Teotihuacan.”
According to Mexican officials, a total of 13 people were injured in the incident, while eight are hospitalized. These include a Canadian woman, three Colombian nationals, six Americans, a Brazilian national, a Dutch woman and a Russian man.
Russia’s vice-consul to Mexico, Anastasia Kryuchkova, told Russian media that the Russian citizen’s condition was not in danger and he was being treated for a gunshot wound to his leg.
