Sunday, July 23, 2017 1:00:30 PM
Terrible and the driver must be charged with eight counts of murder. This event will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Eight bodies to autopsy, identify and return over the border. Seventeen people in the hospital, one in ICU. Law enforcement officers working overtime along with Homeland Security investigators. A murder trial and paying for the smuggler's lifetime of care.
Engine 25 arrived at 12:26 a.m., Hood said, and firefighters started extricating patients out of the back of a semi-truck. The air conditioning was not working.
"Our paramedics and firefighters found that each patient had heart rates over about 130 beats per minute and were very hot to the touch," Hood said.
University Hospital and SAMMC received 30 people with life-threatening injuries, police said, and 13 victims were taken to five other area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.
Four males, and one female are at University Hospital. At least one person was being admitted into ICU, a hospital representative said.
The victims included adults and at least two children. The two youngest victims who are among the injured are 15 years old, police said.
Jason Runyen, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said San Antonio reached 100 degrees, Saturday's high, at around 6 p.m. While it is not known how long the tractor-trailer had been in the parking lot, the temperature inside the truck would have climbed rapidly, he said.
"Most of the heating that would occur once someone is inside of a vehicle that doesn't have AC would occur in the first 30 minutes of them being in there," Runyen said. "For instance, if there was an outside air temperature of only 80 degrees within about 30 minutes the inside air temperate of a vehicle would be almost 115 degrees.
McManus said a check of the video from the store showed that a number of vehicles arrived at the parking lot and picked up a lot of people who were in that trailer who had survived the trip.
Mike Pyle and Tom Kolton of Pyle Transportation said Bradley, the driver of the truck, is an owner-operator who owns his own semi but is authorized to haul under the Pyle name.
"It's our trailer, but it's his truck," Mike Pyle said.
Bradley was not authorized to be hauling anything in Texas when the immigrants were discovered, Pyle and Kolton said.
"We haven't been able to get ahold of him," Kolton said of Bradley, and the authorities have yet to contact either man about the incident.
Both Pyle and Kolton said they were shocked by the news of the deaths.
"This is terrible," Pyle said in reference to the victims.
Around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, the tractor-trailer was still parked adjacent to Walmart, along with a hearse, with several police cars positioned nearby. A large portion of the parking lot remained cordoned off by police tape as detectives gathered evidence.
Around 7 a.m. Sunday, SAPD's Eagle helicopter arrived on scene, repeatedly circling over the Walmart parking lot and the adjacent wooded area for around 20 minutes. Police said in an earlier news conference that they conducted a sweep of the woods to search for any potential victims who may have escaped the tractor trailer, and that they would conduct a secondary sweep at daylight.
Around 10 a.m., the tractor-trailer was towed from the scene. A few police cars remained, guarding a small area still cordoned off by police tape.
Throughout the morning, several onlookers stop to examine the scene, taking pictures and commenting on the horrific deaths.
Richard L. Durbin Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, took aim at those responsible for the incident.
"San Antonio firefighters and police responded to a horrific scene this morning on the Southwest Side of town. They discovered an alien smuggling venture gone horribly wrong. Eight immigrants were found dead. At least twenty more were in serious condition. All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo," said Durbin. "The South Texas heat is punishing this time of year. These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters.
Imagine their suffering, trapped in a stifling trailer in 100-plus degree heat. ... We will work with the Homeland Security Investigations and the local responders to identify those who were responsible for this tragedy."
Border Patrol agents in Laredo have reported an increase in smuggling attempts in tractor-trailers in recent weeks, starting with the discovery of 44 people from Mexico and Guatemala discovered after police stopped an 18-wheeler on June 19 near one of the city's international bridges.
On July 7, agents found 72 people from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador inside a locked trailer in the same part of town.
The next day, they found 33 people from Mexico and Guatemala inside a trailer stopped at the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35.
In another incident last week, agents at the checkpoint found 16 people inside a locked trailer, according to a news release from Border Patrol.
"These criminal organizations view these individuals as mere commodities without regard for their safety," Laredo Sector Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Gabriel Acosta said in a statement released last week. "The blatant disregard for human life will not be tolerated. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to disrupt and dismantle these organizations and prosecute those responsible."
In one of the biggest smuggling tragedies in the country's history, 19 people died in 2003 after being abandoned in a trailer in Victoria. The driver of the truck was sentenced to life in prison, but that was overturned and he was later given a prison term of nearly 34 years.
Thomas Homan, U.S. Immigration, and Customs Enforcement acting director said as long as he leads the agency, "there will be an unwavering commitment to use law enforcement assets to put an end" to smuggling.
"By any standard, the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations works year-round to identify, dismantle, and disrupt the transnational criminal networks that smuggle people into and throughout the United States," Homan said. "These networks have repeatedly shown a reckless disregard for those they smuggle, as last night's case demonstrates. I personally worked on a tragic tractor-trailer case in Victoria, Texas, in 2003 in which 19 people were killed as a result of the smugglers' total indifference to the safety of those smuggled and to the law."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/8-found-dead-in-trailer-11308288.php#photo-10763211
Engine 25 arrived at 12:26 a.m., Hood said, and firefighters started extricating patients out of the back of a semi-truck. The air conditioning was not working.
"Our paramedics and firefighters found that each patient had heart rates over about 130 beats per minute and were very hot to the touch," Hood said.
University Hospital and SAMMC received 30 people with life-threatening injuries, police said, and 13 victims were taken to five other area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.
Four males, and one female are at University Hospital. At least one person was being admitted into ICU, a hospital representative said.
The victims included adults and at least two children. The two youngest victims who are among the injured are 15 years old, police said.
Jason Runyen, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said San Antonio reached 100 degrees, Saturday's high, at around 6 p.m. While it is not known how long the tractor-trailer had been in the parking lot, the temperature inside the truck would have climbed rapidly, he said.
"Most of the heating that would occur once someone is inside of a vehicle that doesn't have AC would occur in the first 30 minutes of them being in there," Runyen said. "For instance, if there was an outside air temperature of only 80 degrees within about 30 minutes the inside air temperate of a vehicle would be almost 115 degrees.
McManus said a check of the video from the store showed that a number of vehicles arrived at the parking lot and picked up a lot of people who were in that trailer who had survived the trip.
Mike Pyle and Tom Kolton of Pyle Transportation said Bradley, the driver of the truck, is an owner-operator who owns his own semi but is authorized to haul under the Pyle name.
"It's our trailer, but it's his truck," Mike Pyle said.
Bradley was not authorized to be hauling anything in Texas when the immigrants were discovered, Pyle and Kolton said.
"We haven't been able to get ahold of him," Kolton said of Bradley, and the authorities have yet to contact either man about the incident.
Both Pyle and Kolton said they were shocked by the news of the deaths.
"This is terrible," Pyle said in reference to the victims.
Around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, the tractor-trailer was still parked adjacent to Walmart, along with a hearse, with several police cars positioned nearby. A large portion of the parking lot remained cordoned off by police tape as detectives gathered evidence.
Around 7 a.m. Sunday, SAPD's Eagle helicopter arrived on scene, repeatedly circling over the Walmart parking lot and the adjacent wooded area for around 20 minutes. Police said in an earlier news conference that they conducted a sweep of the woods to search for any potential victims who may have escaped the tractor trailer, and that they would conduct a secondary sweep at daylight.
Around 10 a.m., the tractor-trailer was towed from the scene. A few police cars remained, guarding a small area still cordoned off by police tape.
Throughout the morning, several onlookers stop to examine the scene, taking pictures and commenting on the horrific deaths.
Richard L. Durbin Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, took aim at those responsible for the incident.
"San Antonio firefighters and police responded to a horrific scene this morning on the Southwest Side of town. They discovered an alien smuggling venture gone horribly wrong. Eight immigrants were found dead. At least twenty more were in serious condition. All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo," said Durbin. "The South Texas heat is punishing this time of year. These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters.
Imagine their suffering, trapped in a stifling trailer in 100-plus degree heat. ... We will work with the Homeland Security Investigations and the local responders to identify those who were responsible for this tragedy."
Border Patrol agents in Laredo have reported an increase in smuggling attempts in tractor-trailers in recent weeks, starting with the discovery of 44 people from Mexico and Guatemala discovered after police stopped an 18-wheeler on June 19 near one of the city's international bridges.
On July 7, agents found 72 people from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador inside a locked trailer in the same part of town.
The next day, they found 33 people from Mexico and Guatemala inside a trailer stopped at the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35.
In another incident last week, agents at the checkpoint found 16 people inside a locked trailer, according to a news release from Border Patrol.
"These criminal organizations view these individuals as mere commodities without regard for their safety," Laredo Sector Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Gabriel Acosta said in a statement released last week. "The blatant disregard for human life will not be tolerated. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to disrupt and dismantle these organizations and prosecute those responsible."
In one of the biggest smuggling tragedies in the country's history, 19 people died in 2003 after being abandoned in a trailer in Victoria. The driver of the truck was sentenced to life in prison, but that was overturned and he was later given a prison term of nearly 34 years.
Thomas Homan, U.S. Immigration, and Customs Enforcement acting director said as long as he leads the agency, "there will be an unwavering commitment to use law enforcement assets to put an end" to smuggling.
"By any standard, the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations works year-round to identify, dismantle, and disrupt the transnational criminal networks that smuggle people into and throughout the United States," Homan said. "These networks have repeatedly shown a reckless disregard for those they smuggle, as last night's case demonstrates. I personally worked on a tragic tractor-trailer case in Victoria, Texas, in 2003 in which 19 people were killed as a result of the smugglers' total indifference to the safety of those smuggled and to the law."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/8-found-dead-in-trailer-11308288.php#photo-10763211
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