Harrowing footage captures the moment a crazed gunman calmly loaded his gun on top of an ancient pyramid in Mexico and opened fire on helpless tourists he had taken hostage.
The tense video shows the shooter, identified by officials later as 27-year-old Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez, pacing about halfway up the famous Teotihuacan ruins on Monday as several people he took hostage lie terrified at his feet.
He loads a gun nonchalantly as confused witnesses watch from below, the video shows.
He can then be seen barking orders at the cowering hostages when he points the gun towards them and fires multiple shots.
A Canadian woman was shot dead and 13 others were injured, including several Americans, when Jasso scaled the Pyramid of the Moon — a nearly 2,000-year-old structure just outside Mexico City that was once used for ritual human sacrifice — just after 11:30 a.m.
The shooter eventually appeared to have been struck in an exchange of gunfire with federal police before he turned the gun on himself, according to local reports.
At the scene, security officers recovered a gun, knife and ammunition — as well as a bizarre AI-generated image of the gunman posing with the Columbine High School shooters. Monday was the 27th anniversary of the massacre.
Seven of the 13 injured were shot while others suffered various injuries.
Six Americans, three Colombians, one Russian, two Brazilians and one Canadian were taken to the hospital.
The youngest victim was 6, and the oldest was 61, authorities said.
