Six Americans were among those injured Monday when a gunman opened fire at Mexico’s Teotihuacán pyramids, a popular tourist destination.
The gunman, identified by Mexican authorities as Julio César Jasso Ramírez, allegedly visited the pyramids on several occasions to engage “in reconnaissance of the specific locations he intended to utilize for his violent attack,” according to officials.
One Canadian was killed and 13 others were injured.
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Among the others injured are six people from the U.S. and others from Russia, Brazil, the Netherlands and Canada, officials said.
Law enforcement in the region received initial reports of the shooting at 11:20 a.m. Monday. The National Guard quickly responded, and officials said the gunman took his own life at 11:45 a.m.
One tour guide who witnessed the shooting told The Associated Press the gunman fired upward.
“Some people, because they were scared … threw themselves face-down on the ground, and the rest of us started to go down,” the tour guide said.
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During a news conference Tuesday, Mexican officials said they found “literature, images and handwritten manuscripts, all allegedly related to violent events known to have occurred in the United States in April 1999” in the gunman’s backpack, referring to the Columbine High School shooting from April 20, 1999.
Officials said the gunman was carrying 52 live rounds of .38 special caliber ammunition inside a plastic bag and a knife.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the shooting in a social media post Monday.
“What happened today in Teotihuacán deeply pains us. I express my most sincere solidarity with the affected individuals and their families,” she wrote. “Yesterday’s attack highlights the urgent need to strengthen our security protocols.”
José Luis Cervantes Martínez, the attorney general of the state of Mexico, said investigators built a “psychopathic profile” of the gunman, which was “characterized by a tendency to copy situations that occurred in other places, at other times and involving other figures.”
The Teotihuacán archaeological site will be closed until further notice after the shooting, the National Institute of Anthropology and History said in an announcement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
