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The body of a Canadian tourist killed when a gunman opened fire from one of Mexico’s most visited pyramids has been turned over to her family, Mexican officials confirmed.
The attorney general’s office for Mexico state said the woman’s family went to its regional office this week in the municipality of Texcoco.
“There, after necessary procedures for identification were completed, her body was returned to them,” it said Wednesday in an email in Spanish.
The woman, who has not been publicly identified by Mexican or Canadian officials, was the only person to die in Monday’s shooting.
New witness video shows tourists taking cover from a gunman during a mass shooting at one of Mexico’s Teotihuacán pyramids. One Canadian woman was killed and 13 others were injured.
“Mexican legislation, including the General Law on Victims, prohibits disclosing personal data that allows the identification of victims of crimes in order to guarantee their right to privacy,” said the email.
However, federal officials in Mexico released the identities earlier this week of the tourists injured in the shooting, as well as the hospitals where they were treated.
The only Canadian of the 13 injured was identified Monday by the Security Cabinet of Mexico as 29-year-old Delicia Li de Yong. It said she was sent to hospital with a gunshot wound above her right shoulder blade.
Tourists from the United States, Colombia, Brazil and Russia were also injured, the youngest being a six-year-old Colombian boy.
Global Affairs Canada said Thursday that consular officials are providing assistance to the family of the Canadian who was killed. “In accordance with the Privacy Act, no further information can be disclosed.”
The Security Cabinet of Mexico didn’t immediately reply to a request to identify the Canadian who was killed.
Attack was planned, officials say
Mexican officials have said the shooter appears to have planned the attack at the Teotihuacán pyramids, played strange music, ranted about hating tourists and fired randomly as visitors jumped and scrambled down to safety.
The gunman was identified as Julio César Jasso Ramirez, a Mexican citizen, who died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This occurred after the National Guard wounded him in the leg,” José Luis Cervantes, attorney general for the state of Mexico, said Tuesday in a news conference in Spanish.
The Mexican government has said the 27-year-old gunman had books and notes about an April 1999 gun attack in the U.S., a reference to the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in which 12 students and a teacher were killed.
The attack at the Pyramid of the Moon highlights the need to prevent anyone from entering archeological sites with a firearm, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at the news conference.
“It has never happened before,” she said. “We need to have protocols in place to prevent this from happening again.”
The Teotihuacán pyramids, a UNESCO World Heritage Site north of Mexico City, are considered one of country’s most important tourist destinations. The site drew more than 1.8 million international visitors last year, government figures indicate.