The authorities in Mexico are still piecing together how a typical morning at the ancient pyramid complex of Teotihuacán, one of the country's foremost tourist destinations, descended into terrifying gun violence on Monday.

The video footage is disturbing. A gunman stands atop the imposing Pyramid of the Moon and opens fire on the tourists around him, who cower for cover among the pre-Hispanic stone structures.

After the ordeal, a 32-year-old Canadian woman had been killed and the gunman had died from a self-inflicted gun wound. Tourists from several nations, including Russia, Colombia and Brazil, were treated for their injuries in local hospitals.

The fact that visitors from overseas were targeted poses a headache for the government just weeks before Mexico co-hosts the men's football World Cup.

The shooting came less than two months after masked gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel unleashed a wave of violence, sowing fear across the country following the killing of their leader "El Mencho" by the security forces.