Every year, nearly two million people visit the pyramids of Teotihuacanso it is not surprising that they are considered one of the most important tourist attractions in Mexico.
However, those who were at the famous archaeological site this Monday experienced moments of tension and anguish. A man identified by authorities as Julio César Jasso Ramírez He opened fire at the scene, killing a Canadian tourist and leaving 13 other people injured.
Laura Torres Cano, originally from Taxco (about 230 kilometers north of Mexico City), was one of those dozens of people who were surprised by the incident inside the famous archaeological site.
“I was going in when I heard the shots. I told myself: ‘they’re rockets,’ but then I realized they were shots,” the woman told the local press.
“I went inside and saw the boy who was shooting from above the pyramid.”he added.
Panic not only reached the visitors, but also the site workers.
“We were scared. I told my colleagues: ‘let’s see where we’re going!’. We went down there,” Edgar Pérez, 34, who works in maintaining the planters at the archaeological site, told the Spanish newspaper El País.
They circulated on social networks movies showing Jasso Ramírez in one of the upper levels of the Pyramid of the Moonone of the two large structures of the archaeological site, shooting indiscriminately.
“He held people hostage”Torres stated.
The recordings also show a group of tourists lying on the ground on the same platform where the attacker was, who, according to authorities, later took his own life.
“I thought I was going to shoot him in the back.”
The incident occurred around noon, according to Mexican media.
“More than 20 shots were heardfirst sporadic and then one after another,” Torres said.
In some of the videos that have circulated about the event, the attacker can be seen crouching down and, apparently, reloading the weapon.
“There are more (bullets) in the bag,” a woman is heard saying in one of the recordings.
Torres, who also recorded part of what happened on video with his phone, assured that the aggressor allowed some people to descend from the pyramid.
“A short time later he let a girl down, but I thought he was going to shoot her in the back; thank God he let her go,” he said.
Another young man was also freed by the attacker, according to the witness’s testimony.
And security?
“Call the police,” a woman is heard saying in a video of the moment the shooting began. “Go up and grab him,” claims another person in another recording.
In some of the recordings that have circulated on social networks, it is also observed police officers using a patrol car as a shield as they surrounded the structure.
According to testimonies collected by the newspaper Milenio, some projectiles hit near merchants and the Pyramid of the Sun.
The fact that the attacker managed to enter the renowned archaeological site with a weapon has raised doubts about the effectiveness of security protocols in tourist places, especially since the incident occurs less than two months before the start of the Soccer World Cup, of which Mexico is one of the three organizing countries.
“This should not have happened, because when you enter they have to check what you bring; a lot of people come here, a lot of families,” Torres said.
“There are supposed to be security protocols, that the National Guard has to be there, because all kinds of people come here,” he added.
The Mexican Prosecutor’s Office announced the start of an investigation to determine what happened, but The first information reveals that the attacker was a far-right sympathizer.
In a backpack he was carrying, a portrait was found with a photograph taken with man-made intelligence, in which he pretended to accompany Eric Harris and Dylan Kleboldresponsible for the Columbine massacre (United States), which occurred 25 years ago and in which 13 students died, Milenio reported.
Likewise, several images were found on social networks in which the man appears posing with the characteristic Nazi salute.
While investigations are carried out, the pyramids of Teotihuacán will remain temporarily closed to the public, announced the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
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