Mexico said it will step up security at tourist sites after a lone gunman opened fire on visitors to the Teotihuacan pyramids, killing a Canadian tourist and wounding a dozen others, less than two months before the World Cup.
The attack, carried out on Monday atop one of the UNESCO-listed pyramids near Mexico City, has raised security concerns ahead of the tournament, which Mexico will host jointly with the United States and Canada. Teotihuacan, about an hour’s drive from the capital, is expected to attract large numbers of visitors, with authorities recently considering reviving a nighttime light show for World Cup tourists.
The incident led to questions for President Claudia Sheinbaum about preparedness. Mexican security analyst David Saucedo said: “Events like this only increase the negative images that Mexico has about security issues, and undermine the narrative that President Sheinbaum is trying to build that Mexico is a safe country.”
Sheinbaum acknowledged holes at the site, noting the absence of security filters and describing the shooting as unprecedented. She said the attacker appeared to have been influenced by external factors, including the Columbine massacre in 1999. «It is our duty as a government to take the right measures to ensure that a situation like this does not happen again. But clearly we all know – Mexicans know – that this is something that has never happened before,» she said.
Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said authorities had been instructed to “immediately strengthen security” at archaeological and tourist sites. Measures include an increased National Guard presence, stricter controls and enhanced surveillance to «identify and prevent any threats.»
The government has highlighted falling murder rates and recent actions against cartel leaders, but violence in Guadalajara earlier this year has already raised alarm. Officials have promised a massive deployment of security forces, vehicles, aircraft and drones in host cities.
Despite the rarity of such public attacks in Mexico, the shooting has renewed scrutiny over whether authorities can guarantee security during the World Cup, with Saucedo warning that concentrating resources on tourist zones could expose more vulnerable regions.
Published on April 22, 2026
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