Thread: 8 found dead inside tractor-trailer discovered in Walmart parking lot

8 found dead inside tractor-trailer discovered in Walmart parking lot

Vuz Updated: 4:25 AM EDT Jul 23, 2017
Dylan Hyman

Authorities in Texas are investigating after eight people were discovered dead in the back of a tractor-trailer in San Antonio.

Police Chief William McManus said a Walmart employee called authorities late Saturday night when a person from inside the truck walked into the store to ask for water.

"He was approached by someone from that truck, who was asking for water. Came back with a water, called the police and we arrived on scene and found eight people dead in the back of that trailer," McManus said at a news conference.

When police opened the trailer, 38 people were discovered inside the back of the non-air-conditioned trailer.

Eight people inside the trailer were pronounced dead at the scene. 20 others have been hospitalized in 'extremely critical' or 'very serious' condition, according to San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood. The remaining 10 people are being treated for less severe injuries. Two school-aged children were among the people inside the trailer. The others are in their twenties and thirties, police said.

The driver of the truck, who has not been identified, is in custody. Chief McManus said the driver is expected to face both state and federal charges.

McManus said store surveillance video showed a number of vehicles picked up several people from inside the trailer before authorities arrived on scene.

"We're looking at a human-trafficking crime here," McManus said. "Homicide will work to determine the origin of this horrific tragedy."

The Department of Homeland Security is assisting in the investigation.

http://www.wcvb.com/article/tractor-...g-lot/10346724

Smuggling tragedy: Eight dead in hot semi trailer found at S.A. Walmart

Sue Calberg and KENS5.com Staff , KENS 3:47 AM. CDT July 23, 2017

SAN ANTONIO -- An apparent smuggling operation involving undocumented immigrants came to a tragic conclusion early Sunday morning when emergency responders found dozens of people dead or dying in the back of a semi-trailer at a Walmart in southwest San Antonio.

The San Antonio Fire Department reported that eight people died at the scene. Twenty more were transported to hospitals with life-threatening injuries, and another eight had non-life-threatening injuries.

Authorities said someone had contacted the manager at the Walmart, which is located at I-35 and Highway 16 on the city's southwest side. The person said that there were people inside the trailer outside who needed help.

Firefighters were called to the scene at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday and made the discovery. At least 29 fire units and two AirLIFE choppers responded to the scene to take care of the victims.

San Antonio police and the U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement agents also were called to the scene.

SAPD Chief William McManus said the trailer appeared to be a smuggling operation. He said the people in the trailer would be reviewed by ICE agents to determine their immigration status.

The driver of the semi was in custody, McManus said.

http://www.kens5.com/news/local/semi...onio/458904209

The video at the above second story link is very informative.

8 found dead in sweltering tractor-trailer outside San Antonio Walmart


Officials investigate the truck that contained dozens of people outside a Walmart in San Antonio. (Darren Abate / EPA)

Associated Press
July 23, 2017 5:50AM

Eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside a Walmart store in Texas' stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case. The driver was arrested.

Twenty other people in extremely critical or serious condition and eight more with lesser injuries including heat stroke and dehydration were found inside the truck, which didn't have a working air conditioning system despite blistering temperatures that topped 100 degrees (37 Celsius), authorities said. All were taken to several hospitals.

“They were very hot to the touch. So these people were in this trailer without any signs of any type of water,” said San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood, briefing journalists at the scene in video authorities posted on social media. “It was a mass casualty situation for us.”

A person from the truck initially approached a Walmart employee in a parking lot and asked for water late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, said police in San Antonio, where temperatures on Saturday reached 101 degrees (38 Celsius). The employee gave the person the water and then called police, and when officers arrived they found the eight people dead in the back of the trailer and 30 other survivors inside, police Chief William McManus said.

The driver had been held, McManus said, but he didn't release the driver's identity.

Investigators checked store surveillance video, which showed vehicles had arrived and picked up other people from the tractor-trailer, police said.


An image from video shows San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, left, and San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood speaking to reporters in the Walmart parking lot. (San Antonio Police Dept. / EPA)

“We're looking at a human trafficking crime this evening,” McManus said, adding many of those inside the truck appeared to be adults in their 20s and 30s but also apparently two school-age children. He called the case “a horrific tragedy.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was involved in the investigation, he said.

The National Weather Service's local office said the temperature in San Antonio hit 101 degrees (38 Celsisus) just before 5 p.m. Saturday and didn't dip below 90 degrees (32 C) until after 10 p.m. Saturday.

Other cases of human trafficking in the United States have led to more deaths. In May 2003, 19 immigrants being transported from South Texas to Houston died inside a sweltering tractor-trailer.

Prosecutors said the driver in the 2003 case heard the immigrants begging and screaming for their lives as they were succumbing to the stifling heat inside his truck but refused to free them. The driver was resentenced in 2011 to nearly 34 years in prison after a federal appeals court overturned the multiple life sentences he had received.

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Jack Acosta
✔@JackAcostaKENS5

First hearse just arrived on scene in SW San Antonio where 8 bodies were found inside a trailer. @KENS5
6:08 AM - 23 Jul 2017

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-texas-trailer-20170723-story.html

Place 100% of the BLAME on their President

Start calling these countries out and place the BLAME where it belongs

These people are their responsibility...not the USA or it's taxpayers

END DACA...no path to stay...more will come!

END Anchor Baby Scam...this is nonsense...this is why they come here and they are NOT US citizens!

END taxpayer funded schools...NO enrollment

END healthcare benefits...start reporting them to ICE, go get care in your country

END jobs, welfare, food stamps and housing!!!

Stop this human trafficking and invasion of our country...these countries need to take care of their own people...start blasting these headlines on the news that their country is responsible for these deaths.

Unfortunately, while this is a tragic waste of life and a miserable way to go, unlawful actions can result in dire consequences.

It's a foreign obscenity on our soil.

U.S. official tells AP death toll in Texas immigrant smuggling case rises to 10 after 2 die at hospital

• By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN ANTONIO — Jul 23, 2017, 3:42 PM ET

U.S. official tells AP death toll in Texas immigrant smuggling case rises to 10 after 2 die at hospital.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/u...grant-48804885

Police Chief is stating that many of those who may survive will have irreversible brain damage from heat stroke.

Deport them to a Mexican hospital for care...I do NOT want to pay for this.

People are transported all the time...get them out one by one.

Tell whatever country they're from to come get them.