He was copying a script written elsewhere
En uno de los sitios arqueológicos más visitados del mundo, un hombre de 27 años convirtió un espacio de asombro colectivo en escenario de violencia premeditada, llevándose la vida de una turista canadiense e hiriendo a trece personas más. Las investigaciones revelaron que el atacante no actuó por impulso sino por imitación, inspirado en masacres ocurridas en otros países y en otros tiempos. El incidente en Teotihuacán plantea una pregunta que trasciende fronteras: cómo proteger los lugares donde la humanidad se reúne a contemplar su propia historia.
- Un hombre armado abrió fuego desde lo alto de la Pirámide de la Luna sobre turistas desprevenidos, matando a una mujer canadiense e hiriendo a trece personas de al menos seis nacionalidades distintas, incluidos dos menores.
- La Guardia Nacional respondió en menos de diez minutos, intercambió disparos con el atacante y lo hirió en la pierna; el hombre murió poco después por su propia mano, a las 11:45 de la mañana.
- La investigación reveló meses de planificación: el atacante había realizado visitas de reconocimiento al sitio, se hospedó en hoteles cercanos y llevaba consigo materiales vinculados a la masacre de Columbine de 1999, ejecutando su ataque en el mismo mes de abril.
- El fiscal del estado describió un perfil psicopático orientado a replicar actos de violencia masiva ocurridos en otros lugares, sin motivación local alguna, lo que sitúa este crimen en una inquietante cadena de imitación transnacional.
- El gobierno mexicano ordenó de inmediato el refuerzo de la seguridad en zonas arqueológicas y destinos turísticos de todo el país, con mayor presencia de la Guardia Nacional y operaciones ampliadas de vigilancia cibernética.
Un lunes por la mañana, un hombre armado se posicionó en lo alto de la Pirámide de la Luna en Teotihuacán y abrió fuego sobre los turistas que se encontraban abajo. En cuestión de minutos, una mujer canadiense había muerto, trece personas estaban heridas —dos de ellas niños— y el atacante había acabado con su propia vida. Lo que parecía un estallido repentino resultó ser el desenlace de meses de preparación meticulosa.
Las autoridades identificaron al responsable como Julio César Jasso Ramírez, mexicano de 27 años. Había llegado al sitio con una pistola calibre .38 y un cuchillo. La Guardia Nacional llegó en menos de diez minutos, lo hirió en la pierna y a las 11:45 a.m. el hombre murió por su propia mano. La rapidez de la respuesta, dijeron las autoridades, evitó que el número de víctimas fuera mayor.
Lo que distinguió este ataque fue la evidencia de premeditación. Ramírez había visitado la zona arqueológica en repetidas ocasiones durante las semanas previas, se hospedó en hoteles cercanos y realizó lo que las autoridades describieron como operaciones de reconocimiento. En su mochila encontraron documentos, imágenes y notas manuscritas relacionadas con la masacre de Columbine de 1999. El ataque ocurrió en abril, el mismo mes que aquella tragedia. El fiscal José Luis Cervantes describió a un hombre con tendencia psicopática a replicar actos de violencia masiva ocurridos en otros países, sin ningún agravio local que lo motivara.
Entre los heridos había ciudadanos de Canadá, Estados Unidos, Colombia, Rusia, Brasil y los Países Bajos, reflejo del carácter internacional del sitio. La canciller canadiense Anita Anand calificó el ataque de acto horrible de violencia armada, mientras que la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum expresó su solidaridad con las familias afectadas.
El gobierno respondió con rapidez y amplitud. El secretario de Seguridad Omar García Harfuch anunció el refuerzo inmediato de la Guardia Nacional en zonas arqueológicas y destinos turísticos de todo el país, junto con operaciones de vigilancia cibernética coordinadas desde la presidencia. Teotihuacán, patrimonio de la humanidad y pilar del turismo mexicano, no volvería a quedar desprotegida.
On a Monday morning at one of Mexico's most visited archaeological sites, a gunman positioned himself atop the Pyramid of the Moon and opened fire on tourists below. By the time the shooting ended, a Canadian woman was dead, thirteen others lay wounded—two of them children—and the attacker had taken his own life. The incident unfolded in minutes, but the investigation that followed revealed months of deliberate planning.
Authorities identified the shooter as Julio César Jasso Ramírez, a 27-year-old Mexican national. He had arrived at Teotihuacán, located roughly forty miles northeast of Mexico City, with a .38 caliber handgun and a knife. The first emergency call came in at 11:20 a.m. Within ten minutes, National Guard units were on scene. They exchanged fire with the gunman, striking him in the leg. At 11:45 a.m., he died by his own hand. The speed of the response, officials said, prevented further casualties.
What made this attack distinct from a spontaneous act of rage was the evidence of premeditation. Investigators found that Ramírez had visited the archaeological zone multiple times in the weeks before the shooting. He had stayed in nearby hotels and conducted what authorities described as reconnaissance operations—mapping the terrain, identifying vantage points, understanding the flow of visitors. He was not acting on impulse. He was preparing.
Inside his backpack, authorities recovered materials that pointed to his inspiration. There were documents, images, and handwritten notes referencing violent incidents from the United States, specifically materials connected to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, in which fourteen people were killed. The timing was deliberate too: Ramírez carried out his attack in April, the same month as Columbine. Mexico's state prosecutor, José Luis Cervantes, described a profile of a man driven by what he called a psychopathic tendency to replicate mass violence from other places, other times, other perpetrators. He was not motivated by a local grievance. He was copying a script written elsewhere.
The victims reflected the international character of Teotihuacán as a tourist destination. Among the thirteen wounded were nationals of Canada, the United States, Colombia, Russia, Brazil, and the Netherlands. Six of the seven people shot by gunfire had already been released from hospitals by the time authorities held their public briefing. The Canadian woman who died remained the sole fatality among visitors; only the attacker himself also lost his life.
Canada's Foreign Minister, Anita Anand, called the shooting a horrific act of armed violence and extended condolences to the victim's family. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum offered solidarity to the families of the deceased and the injured receiving hospital care.
The government response was swift and broad. Security Minister Omar García Harfuch announced that the National Guard would immediately increase its presence at archaeological sites across Mexico and at major tourist destinations nationwide. Physical patrols would be expanded, but so would cyber surveillance operations, coordinated through the National Guard and the national intelligence center, aimed at identifying and preventing future threats. The order came directly from the president's office. Teotihuacán, one of the world's most recognizable pre-Columbian ruins and a cornerstone of Mexico's tourism economy, would not be left vulnerable again.
Citações Notáveis
The evidence collected shows a psychopathic profile characterized by a tendency to copy situations that occurred in other places, at other times, and by other people— José Luis Cervantes, State Prosecutor of Mexico
The attacker was located and neutralized within minutes after being wounded by authorities. This intervention prevented continued attacks and avoided further loss of life— Omar García Harfuch, Security and Citizen Protection Secretary
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why would someone travel to Mexico to carry out an attack inspired by an American school shooting? What was the connection?
There may not have been a personal connection at all. The investigation suggests he was drawn to the idea itself—the notoriety, the method, the symbolism of targeting a public place. He studied Columbine, collected materials about it, and then replicated the framework in a different location.
But he chose Teotihuacán specifically. That's not random.
No, it wasn't. He visited multiple times beforehand. He was scouting. He understood the layout, the crowds, the sight lines from the pyramid. He was methodical about it. This wasn't a man in crisis who snapped. This was someone who decided what he wanted to do and then prepared the conditions to do it.
The fact that he killed himself at the end—does that suggest remorse, or something else?
The authorities didn't characterize it as remorse. They described a psychopathic profile. He may have ended his life because he knew he was cornered, because the fantasy had run its course, or because that was always part of the script he was following. We don't know his internal state. We know his actions.
What does it say about security at a place like Teotihuacán that someone could position himself on top of a pyramid with a gun?
It says that a major archaeological site is also an open, sprawling public space. You can't turn it into a fortress without destroying what makes it worth visiting. The government's response—more patrols, more intelligence work—is about trying to catch threats before they reach that point, not about hardening the site itself.
Do we know if anyone saw him preparing, or if he was completely invisible until he started shooting?
The source doesn't say. But the fact that he'd been there multiple times, staying in hotels, moving around—someone might have noticed him. That's part of what expanded surveillance is meant to catch: the person who doesn't belong, who's watching too carefully, who keeps coming back.