Gunman kills Canadian tourist and wounds others at Mexico’s Teotihuacan pyramids

MEXICO CITY — At least one Canadian tourist was shot dead and several other people were wounded, authorities said, when a man opened fire Monday at one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations, the Teotihuacán pyramids just outside Mexico City.

The gunman then shot and killed himself, authorities said.

State and federal security forces arrived at the archaeological site after receiving an emergency call, according to a statement by the local security ministry of Mexico state, which is adjacent to Mexico City, the capital.

Two people were found dead, “one of whom was likely the shooter,” the statement said. Six other people were wounded, four from gunshot wounds and two after falling from the pyramids. They were taken to hospitals, the statement said.

The shooting at the Teotihuacán pyramids is believed to have been the first such violence in the site’s modern history.

Mexico’s security Cabinet said in a statement that a Canadian woman had been killed during the shooting but did not identify her. A spokesperson for the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City said that the embassy could not share any personal information on the victim because of Canadian privacy laws.

Videos circulating online Monday show tourists ducking at the bottom of the Pyramid of the Moon, the second largest in Teotihuacán, amid the sound of gunfire. “Call the police!” a woman is heard screaming. A lone figure is seen on the pyramid next to what appears to be a group of people lying down nearby.

The identity of the gunman was not immediately released, and his motives for the shooting were unclear.

Cristóbal Castañeda, the security minister of Mexico state, told reporters Monday that all the tourists who had been shot and wounded were women. Two were from Colombia, one from Russia and another from Canada, he said.

Anita Anand, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, confirmed that a Canadian national had been killed during the shooting and said that another had been wounded. Consular officials were providing assistance to their families, she said.

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