The gunman who killed one man and wounded several others at the Teotihuacan pyramids in central Mexico was carrying material related to the attacks to the United States, Mexican authorities said Tuesday.
A Canadian tourist was killed in Monday’s shooting, while tourists from Canada, Colombia, Russia, Brazil and the United States were injured. Officials said the attacker committed suicide by shooting himself.
Mexican authorities said the gunman had several books and handwritten notes that contained references to the April 1999 attacks in the United States.
The attack in question was probably the 1999 school shooting in Columbine, Colorado, which left 16 dead and 23 injured.
Monday marked the 27th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, which ushered in the era of school shootings in America and sparked a fierce national debate about gun control that continues two decades later.
A state official told the AP that the gunman also had an AI-altered photo showing him with the Columbine attackers.
What else did Mexican officials say about the suspect?
“This act was not spontaneous,” Mexico state Attorney General José Luis Cervantes said at a news conference alongside President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Cervantes said the gunman had a “psychopathic profile” that is “characterized by a tendency to imitate situations that occurred in other places, at other times, and to involve other figures.”
According to authorities, the suspect was a 27-year-old man from the southwestern Mexican state of Guerrero.
Investigators found a gun, a knife and a bag containing 52 rounds of ammunition at the scene.
He had an analog cellphone and a tactical-style backpack with bus tickets, Cervantes said.
The shooter opened fire on tourists atop the Pyramid of the Moon in the archaeological complex.
The Attorney General said some people lay unconscious on the ground to hide, while others fled the scene.
The shooter committed suicide by shooting himself in the leg after security forces reached the scene.
Edited by: Louis Olofse