The authorities in Mexico are still piecing together how a typical morning at the ancient pyramid complex of Teotihuacán, one of the country's foremost tourist destinations, descended into terrifying gun violence on Monday. The video footage is disturbing. A gunman stands atop the imposing Pyramid of the Moon and opens fire on the tourists around him, who cower for cover among the pre-Hispanic stone structures.
After the ordeal, a 32-year-old Canadian woman had been killed and the gunman had died from a self-inflicted gun wound. Tourists from several nations, including Russia, Colombia, and Brazil, were treated for their injuries in local hospitals. The fact that visitors from overseas were targeted poses a headache for the government just weeks before Mexico co-hosts the men's football World Cup.
The shooting came less than two months after masked gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel unleashed a wave of violence, sowing fear across the country following the killing of their leader 'El Mencho' by the security forces. But this incident was very different. Mexican authorities say the Teotihuacán gunman acted alone and there was no apparent link to Mexico's widespread cartel violence.
He has been identified as 27-year-old Julio César Jasso Ramírez, a Mexican citizen who lived in Mexico City. Attorney-General José Luis Cervantes Martínez stated, 'The aggressor planned and carried out the attack on his own and there is absolutely no indication at this point that he had any external help or that any other individuals were involved in this incident.'
Among the gunman's belongings, officials found a handgun, a bag of cartridges, and a tactical knife, as well as literature and images apparently related to acts of violence that occurred in the United States in April 1999, specifically referencing the Columbine school shooting.
Mexicans are no strangers to violence: some of the most atrocious massacres of this century in the Americas have been carried out on Mexican soil, generally between rival drug cartels fighting for territorial control. However, the shooting at Teotihuacán appears to fall into a very different category altogether—mass killings carried out by lone assailants without apparent links to established criminal organizations.
Attorney-General Cervantes added that the evidence collected so far pointed to 'a psychopathic profile of the attacker,' characterized by a tendency to imitate situations that occurred in other places, referred to as copycat behavior. The incident at the ancient site comes just three weeks after a teenager killed two teachers with an AR-15 assault rifle at his school in the western state of Michoacán.
President Claudia Sheinbaum offered her sympathies and 'solidarity' with the victims and their families following the attack. The significance of the shooting has raised real concerns among football fans planning to attend the FIFA World Cup, which starts in Mexico City on June 11. The Sheinbaum Administration is striving to reassure visitors of their safety as they prepare to welcome the world to Mexico.
After the ordeal, a 32-year-old Canadian woman had been killed and the gunman had died from a self-inflicted gun wound. Tourists from several nations, including Russia, Colombia, and Brazil, were treated for their injuries in local hospitals. The fact that visitors from overseas were targeted poses a headache for the government just weeks before Mexico co-hosts the men's football World Cup.
The shooting came less than two months after masked gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel unleashed a wave of violence, sowing fear across the country following the killing of their leader 'El Mencho' by the security forces. But this incident was very different. Mexican authorities say the Teotihuacán gunman acted alone and there was no apparent link to Mexico's widespread cartel violence.
He has been identified as 27-year-old Julio César Jasso Ramírez, a Mexican citizen who lived in Mexico City. Attorney-General José Luis Cervantes Martínez stated, 'The aggressor planned and carried out the attack on his own and there is absolutely no indication at this point that he had any external help or that any other individuals were involved in this incident.'
Among the gunman's belongings, officials found a handgun, a bag of cartridges, and a tactical knife, as well as literature and images apparently related to acts of violence that occurred in the United States in April 1999, specifically referencing the Columbine school shooting.
Mexicans are no strangers to violence: some of the most atrocious massacres of this century in the Americas have been carried out on Mexican soil, generally between rival drug cartels fighting for territorial control. However, the shooting at Teotihuacán appears to fall into a very different category altogether—mass killings carried out by lone assailants without apparent links to established criminal organizations.
Attorney-General Cervantes added that the evidence collected so far pointed to 'a psychopathic profile of the attacker,' characterized by a tendency to imitate situations that occurred in other places, referred to as copycat behavior. The incident at the ancient site comes just three weeks after a teenager killed two teachers with an AR-15 assault rifle at his school in the western state of Michoacán.
President Claudia Sheinbaum offered her sympathies and 'solidarity' with the victims and their families following the attack. The significance of the shooting has raised real concerns among football fans planning to attend the FIFA World Cup, which starts in Mexico City on June 11. The Sheinbaum Administration is striving to reassure visitors of their safety as they prepare to welcome the world to Mexico.
