{"id":598330,"date":"2026-04-21T21:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598330\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:40:11","slug":"attack-at-mexican-pyramids-that-killed-canadian-was-planned-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598330\/","title":{"rendered":"Attack at Mexican pyramids that killed Canadian was planned, officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Members of the Mexican National Guard posted at the perimeter of the Teotihuac\u00e1n pyramids on the outskirts of Mexico City, where a gunman killed a Canadian woman and wounded several others on Monday.Luis Cortes\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Mexican authorities say a gunman who killed a Canadian woman and injured 13 people, including another Canadian, at a popular historic tourist site planned the attack. <\/p>\n

Officials who spoke with the Associated Press identified the gunman as 27-year-old Julio C\u00e9sar Jasso of Mexico and said he may have timed it to coincide with the 27th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. <\/p>\n

They said the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after opening fire at the UNESCO World Heritage site. Last year, more than 1.8 million people visited the Teotihuac\u00e1n pyramids, a series of massive stone structures built by three different ancient civilizations. <\/p>\n

Mexican authorities haven\u2019t publicly identified the deceased Canadian woman, but the injured Canadian has been identified as 29-year-old Delicia Li de Yong.<\/p>\n

Twelve other people, ranging in ages from six to 61-years-old, were injured in the attack and taken to the hospital. <\/p>\n

Gunman kills Canadian tourist, injures 13 others at Mexico\u2019s Teotihuac\u00e1n pyramids<\/a><\/p>\n

Video and photos from the site show a gunman firing from atop one of the pyramids while dozens of tourists duck for cover. <\/p>\n

The gunman carried a backpack containing books and materials related to \u201cviolent incidents known to have occurred in the United States in April, 1999,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Luis Cervantes Mart\u00ednez, the attorney-general of the state of Mexico, which includes Teotihuac\u00e1n. The stated \u201cviolent incidents\u201d are an apparent reference to the April 20, 1999, Columbine shooting. Both shootings started at about 11:30 a.m. local time.<\/p>\n

The Teotihuac\u00e1n attack fell on the 27th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, in which two teenaged gunmen killed 12 students and one teacher before dying from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. <\/p>\n

Mexican authorities have not linked the attack to cartel violence. In a Tuesday press conference, officials said the attack was not spontaneous, and the gunman had been staying in a hotel nearby. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Ottawa that the shooting was a \u201cterrible circumstance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts go out to the family and friends of the individual who was tragically killed,\u201d Mr. Carney said. \u201cI very much appreciate President Sheinbaum\u2019s personal attention to the matter, and we\u2019re working with Mexican authorities on the situation, but it\u2019s a sad day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney offered condolences to the family of a Canadian who was killed in a mass shooting at a Mexican tourist site. He thanked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for her personal attention to the matter, after Sheinbaum promised a swift investigation into the shooting which killed 13. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she spoke to her counterpart in Mexico and expects the Mexican investigation to shed light on how the tragedy happened.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Carolina Adrian, a Canadian citizen from Montreal who was at the pyramids, said the site erupted into chaos when the shooter opened fire on the people below. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I thought it was fireworks, until I saw everyone running on top of the pyramid, and people throwing themselves down the side of the stairs.\u201d Ms. Adrian said, adding that shots sporadically thundered through the site for 20 minutes, and people stuck on the pyramid when the gunman opened fire were forced to lie down to take cover.<\/p>\n

Brenda Lee, a tourist from Vancouver who spoke to The Globe and Mail from her Mexican hotel room, also mistook the gunshots for fireworks. She was at the bottom of the pyramid when more than a dozen shots rang out. \u201cWe all ran for it. We saw people flying off the steps trying to run down,\u201d Ms. Lee said. \u201cThere\u2019s no time to think. You just go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before shots broke out, one person from her tour group was three feet from the gunman. Ms. Lee said some of the tourists who took shelter from the gunfire were \u201csitting ducks,\u201d with nothing blocking them from the bullets.<\/p>\n

Ms. Adrian, who was born in Spain, served as a translator between locals and tourists in the aftermath of the attack. \u201cI just wanted to help in any way I could because people were very scared and anxious,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told reporters on Tuesday that her Mexican counterpart is investigating the attack, and Canadian officials are in Mexico assisting the remaining victims and Canadian foreign nationals in the country. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that Canadians are supported abroad and that this investigation uncovers facts relating to the death, the murder, of a Canadian citizen on Mexican soil,\u201d Ms. Anand said. <\/p>\n

When asked if the shooting changes Canada\u2019s travel advice on Mexico, Ms. Anand said Canada is \u201cexamining all issues relating to the bilateral relationship,\u201d but is currently focused on the families affected by the attack. <\/p>\n

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X<\/a> that her government is in contact with the Canadian embassy and she\u2019s instructed the Mexican Security Cabinet to investigate the shooting and provide support. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened today in Teotihuac\u00e1n deeply pains us,\u201d Ms. Sheinbaum wrote in the post on Monday. \u201cI express my most sincere solidarity with the affected individuals and their families.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Members of the Mexican National Guard posted at the perimeter of the Teotihuac\u00e1n…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,13849,79],"class_list":["post-598330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-pleasemod","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}