One Canadian tourist was shot dead and several other people were wounded, including U.S. nationals, officials said, when a man opened fire on Monday at one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations, the Teotihuacán pyramids just outside Mexico City.
The gunman then shot and killed himself, the authorities said.
State and federal security forces arrived at the archaeological site after receiving an emergency call, according to a statement by the local security ministry of Mexico State, which is adjacent to Mexico City, the capital.
Two people were found dead, “one of whom was likely the shooter,” the statement said. Later on Monday evening, the federal authorities released a list with the names of 13 other tourists who had been injured. Seven of them had gunshot wounds, including two minors ages 6 and 13 from Colombia and Brazil. They were all taken to hospitals. It was unclear how some of the tourists had been injured.
Six U.S. citizens, ranging in age from 26 to 61, were among those injured during the gunfire, including two who had been shot, according to the list.
The shooting at the Teotihuacán pyramids is believed to have been the first such violence in the site’s modern history.
Mexico’s security cabinet said in a statement that a Canadian woman had been killed during the shooting but did not identify her. A spokeswoman for the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City said that it could not share any personal information about the victim because of Canadian privacy laws.
Videos circulating online on Monday show tourists ducking at the bottom of the Pyramid of the Moon, the second largest in Teotihuacán, amid the sound of gunfire. “Call the police!” a woman is heard screaming. A lone figure is seen on the pyramid next to what appears to be a group of people lying down nearby.
Laura Torres, a tourist visiting Teotihuacán, told reporters at the scene that she had been walking in when she heard the gunfire.
“I saw the guy shooting from up on the pyramid, and yeah, there were a lot of people there,” said Ms. Torres, who recounted hearing up to 20 shots.
Tourist guides who had brought groups of people to the site began to lead them out, she said. Then she saw a tourist being shot.
“She was lying about halfway up the pyramid,” Ms. Torres said. “This shouldn’t have happened.”
The identity of the gunman was not immediately released, and his motive for the shooting were unclear, Cristóbal Castañeda, the security minister of Mexico State, told reporters on Monday.
“This seems to have been a direct attack, but we cannot speculate,” Mr. Castañeda said, adding that at least one handgun had been recovered. The gunman seemed to have acted alone, he said.
Anita Anand, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, confirmed that a Canadian national had been killed during the shooting and said that another one — a 29-year-old woman, according to the Mexican government’s list — had been wounded. Consular officials were providing assistance to their families, she said.
“What happened today in Teotihuacán pains us deeply,” President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said on social media. She added that the Mexican government had been in contact with the Canadian Embassy. “I have instructed the security cabinet to thoroughly investigate these events and provide all necessary support,” she said.
Mexican officials were also in touch with the embassies of the other tourists who had been wounded, of which eight remained hospitalized by Monday evening, officials said. A spokesman for the Mexico State prosecutor’s office said an investigation had been opened.
Teotihuacán, an ancient city of pyramids and palaces that predates the Aztecs, had as many as 125,000 people living there at its peak. The site attracts thousands of tourists every year, both foreigners and nationals, who are drawn by its three titanic pyramids. To this day, researchers continue making discoveries there.
In 2025, Teotihuacán was Mexico’s second-most-popular archaeological site, with 722,000 visitors that year. For the upcoming World Cup, the Mexico State government announced it was preparing an immersive night show for tourists there. Mexican officials expect the soccer tournament to attract nearly 5.5 million fans. To safeguard the matches, Mexico is planning to deploy 10,000 security forces across the country.
Last month, the Canadian government urged its citizens in a regular security advisory to “exercise a high degree of caution” while visiting Mexico.
Despite high rates of violence across Mexico, the Teotihuacán archaeological zone is generally considered safe for visitors. Tourists have died at the site, often after falling or suffering health issues.
