A Vancouver resident was visiting Mexico’s Teotihuacán pyramids on Monday when shots rang out.
Barb Welsh is in Mexico with seven girlfriends they usually were on a non-public tour to go to the Pyramid of the Moon.
“My girlfriend and I, Leanne… we began up the, to walk as much as the, to the pyramid,” Welsh told Global News.
“We thought of perhaps 1 / 4 of a way up, each of us, and we were beginning to feel the — it’s a really, very steep climb and we were beginning to feel the altitude.”
In order that they decided to return down.
“Thank goodness we went back,” Welsh said.
The group was at the underside, taking a look at some vendors, when shots rang out.
“We thought, ‘Oh my goodness, that feels like firecrackers. What’s that?” Welsh said.
“After which I looked up and I could see people similar to a waterfall coming down the pyramids and we said, ‘Oh no, the guy said it’s a shooter. Run, run…’ So we ran and just as fast as we could and it was still the shooting was happening we could hear it and we could see people falling down the pyramids and it, it was only a horrible scene and anyway we were lucky we ran the fitting way.”
Welsh said they got to the parking zone where their guide had called their driver they usually jumped within the van because the shooting still continued.
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She said she doesn’t think anyone even realized what was happening, but they felt very lucky to get out of there unscathed.
A Canadian woman was killed within the shooting, 4 people were injured by gunfire and two were injured by falls, in line with the Mexico State Secretariat of Security.
The shooter is believed to have taken his own life.
“The shots didn’t stop, even until we got within the van,” Welsh said. “And I’d say a minimum of 20 minutes of shots, a minimum of.”
The Teotihuacán pyramids are a extremely popular tourist spot outside of Mexico City.
“We were like, ‘How could this be happening?’” Welsh said.
“This appears to be such a mild city and everybody’s been so wonderful. And it just never, I assume, like everybody says, you never think it’s going to occur to you. And I just, we’re just in absolute shock. And we were just so thankful that we were capable of get out and really thankful that I turned around.
“I mean, just pure luck. I turned around after we were going up the steps. My girlfriend Leanne and I might have been on the highest. There’s no doubt. The shooter is definitely in two of our pictures.”
Welsh said it’s so hard to take into consideration people visiting a tourist site, with people of all ages, adding that they’re all still in shock.
“We’re just thankful,” she said.
“We’re just really thankful. We’re thankful that our guide pushed us in the fitting direction. I mean, when someone says run, you never know where to run and she or he actually got us to the parking zone and we’re all together the entire time after which our van driver, who drove like a maniac. As a matter of fact, the alert went out to his boss that he was driving so so carelessly and he was capable of pick us up. We got there, we saw the police, we were driving and we saw police perhaps 10 minutes after we were already on the road coming. I mean that’s how briskly he was getting us out of there. But we could still hear the shots even within the van.”
Welsh said that despite the incident, she still feels secure in Mexico.
“I believe this will occur anywhere,” she said.
“And now we have had, we’re per week in right away. We’ve had an incredible time. We’ve never felt unsafe here in any respect. As a matter of fact, I believe that it’s certainly one of the safest places I feel like we’ve been to.
“Individuals are very kind. It’s very shocking. I feel terrible that this has happened to them. It’s only a terrible situation.”
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