A Canadian woman was killed and four other people were injured by gunfire in the ancient ruins of Teotihuacán, Mexico, according to security officials, in a rare case of violence in one of the country’s main tourist attractions.
Two other visitors were injured after falls, the Security Secretariat of the State of Mexico said in a statement on Monday, adding that a lone gunman opened fire from the top of one of the archaeological site’s main pyramids and then took his own life. It is still unclear what motivated the attack.
Teotihuacán, a day trip north of Mexico City, is the second most visited archaeological site in the country, having received more than 1.6 million visitors last year.
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Videos posted on social media show a man, identified as the shooter, standing at the top of the Pyramid of the Moon, the second tallest in Teotihuacán, holding a gun. You can hear at least one loud gunshot, followed by scenes of shocked tourists ducking for cover.
While shootings in Mexico are far from uncommon — especially in areas close to the U.S. border or in remote regions where drug cartels operate — places like Teotihuacán have largely been spared.
The attack in Teotihuacán is expected to increase pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum to guarantee the safety of tourists less than two months before the start of the football World Cup, of which Mexico will be one of the hosts, with 13 matches in the country. The international tournament, which will also feature games in Canada and the US, is expected to attract several million foreign visitors to the three Mexican cities hosting matches.
In February, Mexican authorities rushed to assure FIFA, football’s governing body, that security conditions were adequate at one of its venues, Guadalajara, after the nearby murder of the country’s most powerful drug kingpin triggered a wave of violence in the city. The other Mexican venues for the World Cup are Mexico City and Monterrey.
In a post on X, Sheinbaum expressed concern about the unusual episode of violence.
“What happened today in Teotihuacán saddens us deeply. I express my sincerest solidarity with the people affected and their families,” he wrote, adding that he asked his main security officials to investigate the crime.
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In recent months, Sheinbaum has insisted that Mexico is a safe tourist destination despite headline-grabbing outbreaks of violence. Although tourism accounts for almost 9% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, according to official data, critics have highlighted for years that chronic violence undermines the sector.
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