Gunman who fired on tourists at Mexican pyramid carried materials related to 1999 Columbine massacre

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The gunman who opened fire on tourists at Mexico’s iconic Teotihuacan pyramids carried materials that were apparently related to the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, authorities said Tuesday, a day after the attack that killed a Canadian woman and left at least 13 people injured.

Although officials did not mention Columbine by name, they referred to several books and handwritten notes that belonged to the gunman and referenced attacks in the United States in April 1999. Monday marked the 27th anniversary of the massacre in Colorado.

Seven people were wounded by gunshots at the archaeological site north of the Mexican capital, the local government said. The nature of the other injuries was not disclosed, but some people fell when the shooting started, including some who were climbing on the pyramids.

The assailant, who acted alone, shot and killed himself, authorities said, and security officials found a gun, a knife and ammunition at the scene.

The attack happened less than two months before Mexico co-hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. Mexico's security secretary, Omar García Harfuch, said major tourist destinations would see a heightened presence of both ground forces and digital “cyber patrols” to prevent threats.

“Yesterday’s attack highlights the urgent need to strengthen our security protocols,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. She also noted the importance of analyzing “external influences” that may provoke such violence within the country.

Taken to hospitals were six people from the U.S., three from Colombia, one from Russia, one from Brazil, one from the Netherlands and one from Canada, the local government said. The youngest person who was hurt was 6; the oldest was 61, Mexican authorities said.

In an update Tuesday morning, Mexico's security cabinet said the injured patients were being treated at a clinic after spending the night in stable condition.

Authorities identified the attacker as 27-year-old Julio César Jasso Ramírez, a native of Guerrero, Mexico, who, they said, had carefully scouted the pyramids before opening fire.

The assailant carried a tactical-style backpack containing an analog cellphone and bus tickets, said José Luis Cervantes Martinez, the attorney general of the state of Mexico, which includes Teotihuacan.

Cervantes Martinez also noted the presence of “literature, images and manuscripts" that related to "violent incidents known to have occurred in the United States in April 1999,” a likely reference to the Columbine attack in which 12 students and a teacher were killed.

Investigators built "a psychopathic profile" of the suspect that was "characterized by a tendency to copy situations that occurred in other places, at other times and involving other figures,’” the prosecutor added.

Greg Magadini, of Boise, Idaho, was with a tour group on top of the pyramid when he heard a loud crack followed by screaming. The gunman was about 40 feet (12 meters) away on the same platform with roughly 60 tourists, he said.

Magadini jumped down a ledge and scrambled for cover while two of his friends stayed on the platform above trying to hide.

Shots seemed to ring out every five seconds, Magadini said, as he and the others jumped down more ledges to reach the ground. Then they ran through a field behind the pyramid, carrying one of his friends who badly injured her ankle on one of the jumps.

Magadini, who came away with scrapes and cuts, said he did not see the shooter, but his friends said the gunman seemed to fire randomly in all directions. “Everyone was a target,” he said.

Later at the hospital, they talked with other tourists, who said the shooter at one point played strange music and taunted them, saying he hated tourists, Magadini said.

The Teotihuacan pyramids, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are a series of ancient structures on the outskirts of Mexico City. As one of Mexico’s most important tourist destinations, the site drew more than 1.8 million international visitors last year, according to government figures.

The shooting took place shortly after 11:30 a.m. Monday, when dozens of tourists were at the top of the Pyramid of the Moon. The gunman fired upward, according to a tour guide who was at the scene and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

“Some people, because they were scared ... threw themselves face-down on the ground, and the rest of us started to go down,” the guide said, recounting how the shooter began firing as tourists descended the pyramid’s steps.

Another group of visitors lay motionless on the pyramid to avoid being targeted.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney offered condolences to the family and friends of the Canadian tourist who was killed. He said Canadian authorities were working with those in Mexico.

“It’s a terrible circumstance,” Carney said.

Associated Press writers Megan Janetsky in Mexico City and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A man waters plants outside a handicrafts shop near the Teotihuacan pyramids, which remained closed a day after a gunman opened fire on tourists at the archaeological site outside Mexico City, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A worker pushes a wheelbarrow at the Teotihuacan pyramids, which remained closed a day after a gunman opened fire on tourists at the archaeological site on the outskirts of Mexico City, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

National Guard troops patrol the Teotihuacan pyramids, which remained closed a day after a gunman opened fire on tourists at the archaeological site outside Mexico City, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Handicraft vendors and tourists stand outside the Teotihuacan pyramids, which remained closed a day after a gunman opened fire on tourists at the archaeological site on the outskirts of Mexico City, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Forensic workers remove a victim's body from a pyramid after authorities said a gunman opened fire in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Police patrol the pyramids after authorities said a gunman opened fire in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Forensic experts carry the body of a victim down a pyramid after authorities said a gunman opened fire, in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Forensic experts carry the body of a victim down a pyramid after authorities said a gunman opened fire in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Forensic workers carry the body of a victim down a pyramid after authorities said a gunman opened fire, in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A judge on Tuesday delayed the criminal sentencing of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma in order to allow victims to attend the court proceeding in person.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo was originally planning to hand down the sentence Tuesday during a court proceeding conducted only by videoconferencing. But she said she changed her mind after seeing some victims of the opioid crisis protesting outside her courthouse in Newark, New Jersey. She said they should be allowed to attend in person, too, and moved the hearing to next Tuesday.

When it happens, Arleo is expected to order the company to forfeit $225 million to the Justice Department, clearing the way for the company to finalize a settlement of nearly all of the thousands of lawsuits it faces over its role in the opioid crisis.

The penalty was agreed to in a 2020 pact to resolve federal civil and criminal probes it was facing. If the judge signs off, other penalties will not be collected in return for Purdue settling the other lawsuits.

After years of legal twists and turns, the settlement was approved by another judge last year and could take effect as soon as a week after the sentence is delivered. It requires members of the Sackler family who own the company to pay up to $7 billion to state, local and Native American tribal governments, some individual victims and others.

Here’s a look at the situation.

Purdue pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges in November 2020.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based company admitted that it did not have an effective program to keep its powerful prescription painkillers from being diverted to the black market, even though it told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that it did.

It also admitted that it paid doctors through a speakers program to prescribe the drugs and paid an electronic medical records company to send doctors information on patients that encouraged more opioid prescriptions.

While Purdue produced only a fraction of the opioid pills that flooded the market in the 2000s, advocates have long seen aggressive sales of OxyContin as one of the touchstones of the crisis. At a 1996 event to rally Purdue’s sales force, Richard Sackler, then a top Purdue executive and later president of the company, called for a “blizzard of prescriptions.”

While Purdue is expected to pay $225 million, the government agreed in the plea deal not to collect $5.3 billion in criminal forfeitures and fines and $2.8 billion in civil liabilities. Instead, portions of that money are considered part of the broader settlement — and the federal government will receive a small slice of that.

The broader settlement calls for members of the Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7 billion over 15 years. Most of the money is to go to government entities to use to fight the opioid crisis.

It's among the largest in a series of settlements by drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies in recent years — and the only major one that includes payments for some individual victims or their survivors.

Together, the settlements are worth more than $50 billion, and most of the money is to be used to address the overdose epidemic.

Under the Purdue deal, members of the Sackler family would be shielded from lawsuits over opioids from those who agree to the payments.

Purdue itself would cease to exist and be replaced by a new company, Knoa Pharma, which would operate for the public benefit and have a board appointed by the states.

The reorganization is considered one of the most complicated ever. By the end of last year, Purdue had paid law firms and other professionals working on all sides of the case more than $1 billion, according to a court filing.

Members of the Sackler family have long been cast as villains in the opioid crisis, seeking to increase profits even as it became clear people were becoming addicted to OxyContin and overdosing.

But no members of the family were charged.

Family members received $10.7 billion in payments from Purdue from 2008 to 2018 -- with nearly half of it used to pay taxes on behalf of Purdue. They have not been paid by the company since 2018 — and the last of them left Purdue's board in 2019.

Under the settlement, they would not object if their names are removed from museums and other institutions they've supported — something that's already been happening.

More than 54,000 people with personal injury claims against Purdue voted to accept the settlement, and 218 voted against it.

Still, some victims and their family members have been pushing back for years, asserting that the settlement and the guilty plea stop short of justice for victims of a crisis that has been linked to 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999.

The sentencing will give them another chance to make that case to the judge.

Susan Ousterman, whose son, Tyler Cordiero, died at age 24 in 2020 after overdosing on a mixture that included fentanyl after years of using heroin and other opioids, organized a rally outside of Tuesday's hearing for people who lost loved ones to the crisis.

She hopes the judge rejects the plea deal and the Justice Department pursues charges against individuals, including Sackler family members.

She said that the decision to postpone the sentencing was a victory for advocates like her.

“We feel like victims need to be heard,” she said.

Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this article.

FILE - Cheryl Juaire holds photos of her sons, both of whom died from overdoses, Sean Merrill, left, and Corey Merrill, after making a statement during a hearing in New York on March 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - A sign with some names of the Sackler family is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Jan. 17, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - Pills spill in an arrangement photo of prescription Oxycodone in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - Protesters who have lost love ones to the opioid crisis protest outside a courthouse in Boston, Aug. 2, 2019, where a judge heard arguments in a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)