A day after the shooting at Mexico’s Teotihuacán pyramids killed a Canadian tourist and wounded visitors, Mexican authorities said they had found evidence that the gunman’s preparation included materials referencing the April 1999 Columbine High School attack in Colorado. Authorities did not name Columbine directly, but they described books and handwritten notes found with the attacker as referencing U.S. incidents in April 1999, and they said those materials also included a photo modified with artificial intelligence.
Investigators said the assailant carried materials they described as “literature, images and manuscripts” tied to violent incidents in the United States in April 1999. The authorities said the gunman also had a photo showing him alongside the Columbine attackers, according to a state official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to address the media. The shooting took place on Monday, the 27th anniversary of the Columbine massacre.
According to Mexican authorities, the gunman identified as 27-year-old Julio César Jasso Ramírez arrived at Teotihuacán a day earlier and stayed in a hotel. Prosecutors said the attacker came to the site by Uber, and on Monday shortly before noon he began firing while atop the Pyramid of the Moon, holding a plastic bag with 52 .38-caliber cartridges in one hand and using an old revolver. Prosecutor José Luis Cervantes Martínez, the attorney general of the state of Mexico, said the attacker also targeted approaching security forces.
Cervantes Martínez said national guard members eventually scaled the pyramid and wounded the attacker in the leg. Witnesses described how people on the platform tried to avoid being seen and then fled down the structure as gunshots echoed. Investigators said the attacker shot and killed himself once he felt cornered, and security officials found a gun, a knife and ammunition at the scene. Authorities also said the attacker carried a tactical-style backpack with an analog cellphone and bus tickets.
Mexican authorities said seven people were wounded by gunshots at the archaeological site, and they did not disclose the nature of other injuries. Six of those taken to hospitals were from the United States, and Mexican officials said others included three from Colombia, one each from Russia, Brazil, the Netherlands and Canada. They said the youngest person hurt was 6 and the oldest was 61. Witness Greg Magadini, of Boise, Idaho, told the AP he heard a loud crack and screaming while he was with a tour group on top of the pyramid and that the gunman was about 40 feet (12 meters) away.
Magadini said he jumped down a ledge and scrambled for cover as two friends remained on the platform above trying to hide. He said his friends told him the gunman appeared to fire randomly in all directions and that “Everyone was a target,” adding that the group ran through a field behind the pyramid while carrying one of his friends who badly injured her ankle during the jumps. Magadini said that later, other tourists told him the gunman played strange music and taunted them, saying he hated tourists.
The AP previously reported on the basics of the attack and the fact that a Canadian tourist was killed; authorities described additional findings after more investigation. In a briefing tied to the World Cup preparations, Mexico’s security secretary, Omar García Harfuch, said major tourist destinations would see a heightened presence of ground forces and digital “cyber patrols” to prevent threats less than two months before Mexico co-hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a statement that the attack highlighted the urgent need to strengthen security protocols and that officials should analyze “external influences” that may provoke such violence within the country.
Authorities also placed the incident in a broader context of rare but recurring attacks linked to extremist subcultures. While such attacks are uncommon in Latin America, they are not unheard of, officials said, pointing to Argentine authorities who earlier linked a teenager to the “true crime community” after a school attack in the central province of Santa Fe. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney offered condolences to the family and friends of the Canadian tourist who was killed, saying Canadian authorities were working with those in Mexico.