Canadian Woman Shot Dead, Another Canadian Wounded in Mexico, Authorities Say
By Thomson Reuters
Multiple people wounded in shooting, gunman is said to have killed himself
A gunman killed a Canadian woman and wounded multiple people — including a second Canadian — at the Teotihuacán pyramids outside Mexico City on Monday before killing himself, authorities said, jolting one of the country’s most visited tourist sites.
Local media footage appeared to show an armed man shooting from atop one of the pyramids. Further details were scarce.
The Teotihuacán pyramids are located in the State of Mexico, near Mexico City.
Mexico State Attorney General’s office identified the injured Canadian as Felicia Lee, 26. The other individuals wounded were identified as a six year-old Colombian child, as well as two other Colombians, aged 37 and 22, a 55-year-old Dutch national and a 42-year-old Russian.
The name of the Canadian killed was not released.
Later on Monday evening, The Associated Press reported a higher total of at least 13 people injured — including six Americans and two Brazilians — citing information from the local government that seven people were wounded by gunshots.
‘I just started to hear people scream’
Ontarian Daniel Edwards and his wife were at the Teotihuacán site when the shooting unfolded.
Mexican authorities work at the scene where a man shot dead a Canadian woman and injured several others before killing himself.
The couple had just been to the top of the pyramid where the shooter was, and then descended the steps.
“I just started to hear people scream,” he told CBC Windsor from Mexico. “I looked up and he was with his gun pointed in the air.”
The gunman was on an elevation above them, and Edwards said “a herd of people” began clambering down the site’s steep steps to get away from what was happening.
“My tour guide just looked at me and said, ‘run,'” said Edwards, who lives in the Windsor, Ont., area.
Local prosecutors said in a post on X that the gunman was Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez, a Mexican national. They did not provide further details.
Vancouver’s Brenda Lee got a similar warning, when she and a group of friends visiting Teotihuacán were standing beside a vendor at the site on Monday, and they heard a noise they thought might be fireworks or firecrackers.
“Somebody asked, ‘was that gunfire?'” Lee told CBC’s Hanomansing Tonight. “And the vendor said: ‘Yes, that’s gunfire — run.'”
Lee, who is not related to the Canadian with the same last name who was wounded in Monday’s shooting, and her friends fled to the parking lot.
Mexican authorities are co-ordinating the investigation at the archaeological zone, which local authorities described as “calm and under control” following the incident.
Police are seen at the site of a shooting in Mexico’s Teotihuacan archaeological zone, which left multiple people injured and a Canadian woman dead on Monday, according to authorities.\
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a statement on X that her thoughts were with the family and loved ones of the Canadian victims, and that “Global Affairs consular officials are in touch to provide assistance.”
In a statement of his own, Cameron MacKay, Canada’s ambassador to Mexico, said on X that he was “deeply saddened” by Monday’s events and offered his condolences to the families and loved ones of the Canadians.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a post on social media she was in contact with the Canadian Embassy.
In a statement posted to X, Sheinbaum also said she was closely following the situation and that updates would be provided by the security cabinet.
“What happened today in Teotihuacán deeply pains us. I express my most sincere solidarity with the affected individuals and their families,” she said in the statement.
Police officers are seen at the Pyramid of the Moon in Mexico’s Teotihuacan archaeological zone, following a shooting on Monday that killed a Canadian.
Mexico is preparing to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside the United States and Canada, an event expected to draw millions of visitors from abroad with scrutiny focused on security at major tourist and cultural sites.
The pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan was one of the most important cultural centres in Mesoamerica, and today remains one of Mexico’s most popular tourist sites, receiving 1.8 million visitors last year.
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) advises on its website that travellers should exercise a high degree of caution in Mexico “due to high levels of criminal activity and kidnapping.”
Its posted advice was last updated on March 31.
