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“Police now say that is was a Walmart security guard in a southwest section of the city that made the discovery of human trafficking after a tipster identified a tractor-trailer in the parking lot that was apparently full of migrants, said Joe Arrington, a spokesman for the San Antonio Fire Department.

The tipster, who was not identified, had been in the truck and approached the security guard to ask for water, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus later told reporters.

The security guard found the dead and sick when he searched the back of the truck, Arrington said.

A total of 39 people were inside, the U.S. attorney’s office said Sunday afternoon.

Officials reported earlier that 38 people were found in the trailer, but they said later that they had found an additional person in a wooded area nearby.

“The truck was loaded with people,” Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters.

Eight people were initially found dead in the tractor-trailer, and an additional victim died at a hospital, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told NBC News.

All of the dead are adult men, the U.S. attorney’s office said, and 30 others were being treated at hospitals.

ICE had said earlier that two people died at hospitals, but it later revised the number, citing miscommunication with hospital officials.

A Florida truck driver was in custody Sunday after nine people were found dead in the back of a cramped, overheated 18-wheeler in San Antonio, Texas.

More than a dozen other people — whom authorities described as victims of a “horrific” human smuggling operation — suffered life-threatening injuries.

In a statement, the U.S. attorney’s office for western Texas said the driver, James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, Fla., was in custody pending criminal charges. A complaint will likely be filed Monday morning, the statement said.

Some inside the semi ran into nearby woods, triggering a search by helicopter and on foot, McManus said, adding that police would look for the missing again in the morning.

“We’re looking at a human trafficking crime here this evening,” he said, describing it as a “horrific tragedy.” He added that the Department of Homeland Security was working with local police.
After the victims are treated, they will be investigated by ICE, McManus said.

First responders raced to the scene shortly after 12:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. ET), officials said. Hood said that the people in the truck were “very hot to the touch” and that there were no signs of water inside. The air conditioning was not working, he said.

“Our paramedics and firefighters found that each one of them had heart rates over about 130 beats per minute,” he said. “You’re looking at a lot of heat stroke, a lot of dehydration.”

San Antonio police said in a statement later Sunday that all of the dead were believed to have succumbed to heat exposure and asphyxiation. Official causes of death will be determined by the

Bexar County medical examiner.

Police added that they do not yet know the exact country of origin, destination or demographics of the dead and injured, although Mexico’s consul general, Rayna Torres, confirmed Sunday that

Mexican nationals were among them.

Citing the U.S. law enforcement investigation, Torres said she did not want to provide specifics, but she said that some were minors. Some could not speak, she added, because they are in grave condition.

Police said that the two youngest known victims, both of whom survived, were 15 years old.

Had it not been for the quick response by the security guard there would probably have been many other deaths said police.

The National Weather Service said the temperature in San Antonio hit 101 degrees on Saturday and didn’t dip below 90 degrees until after 10 p.m., according to The Associated Press.

Closed-circuit TV images from before emergency services arrived showed several cars turn up to pick up many of those who had survived the journey inside the truck, McManus said.

The driver and anyone else involved in the incident will face state and federal charges, McManus said.

“This is not an isolated incident,” he said, as he urged anyone who sees anything similar to call 911. “Fortunately, we came across this one. Fortunately, there are people who survived. But this happens all the time.”

Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said in a statement Sunday that smuggling networks “have repeatedly shown a reckless disregard for those they smuggle, as last night’s case demonstrates.”

“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,” he said.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said the deaths were “tragic and avoidable.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement that Texas is “working to eradicate” traffickers, while Jonathan Ryan, executive director of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, said the political environment was partly to blame.

“You can draw a direct line between the hostile policies and rhetoric against immigrants that are happening nationally, and here in our state, to events like what happened today,” Ryan said.

“You can change laws. You can change policies,” he said. “But you cannot change the fact that people fleeing violence, people seeking to save and protect their families, are going to do whatever they can to flee that danger and find safety.”

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“Private armed security guards will protect your kids next year.

The Horry County school board voted Monday to approve a $550,000 contract with U.S. Security Associates to provide 18 armed security guards who will patrol the 15 schools that Horry County police previously patrolled as well as three new schools scheduled to be open by next year.

Chief Financial Officer John Gardner said doesn’t recall the district ever using private security inside schools before.

U.S. Security Associates is an insured, American-owned company that provides over 50,000 security professionals with 160 branches in the United States, according to its website.

The firm also provides unarmed security outside Horry County schools and its existing contract with the district provides that it may supply armed security guards for an additional cost if needed.

The security guards in the schools would have arresting authority on school property, according to district spokeswoman Teal Britton.

Unlike police officers, they would operate at the disposal of the school district.

The company in its proposal told the district that all armed guards would receive all necessary training required by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division as well as an additional 16 hours in training from U.S. Security Associates.

“The company will be required to provide proof of all background checks and training,” Britton said last week.

U.S. Security Associates District Manager Ed Leitgeb said the firm puts its employees through extensive social security and background checks and would like to recruit veterans and law enforcement to fill the positions in Horry County Schools.

Leitgeb said all security guards are required to be trained in CPR, first aid and automated external defibrillator operation.

The district already has budgeted $801,000 in the 2017-18 budget for all SROs, including $592,000 for officers at the schools that Horry County police would have patrolled this year: the amount budgeted for the officers under the previous agreement with the county.

The district began looking at private security options after the county in March abandoned a long-standing agreement to split the cost of school resource officers’ salaries, and most recently asked for more than $1.6 million to patrol the schools.”

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“The Texas Legislature has passed the Church Security Protection Act aimed at allowing churches to provide their own security through members of their congregations.

In a special report, Angel San Juan found that Texas is one of just three states — Oklahoma and Florida are the other two — that restricts church members from providing their own security.

Under Texas law, a church would have to establish itself as a security company and be licensed by the state or hire a company that is licensed by the state, which can be an expensive undertaking.

But violating the law can also be costly with fines up to thousands of dollars.

That’s what led a group here in Southeast Texas lead the charge to change the law.”

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Every year, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of recipients convene at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center for the bureau, which provides assistance to those less fortunate during the holidays.

Other than some relatively minor medical emergencies – including women going into labor – there haven’t been any crises at the bureau, now in its 71st year.

“I feel blessed that we have not had any serious problems,” said Special Event Coordinator Judy Lee, with Catholic Charities Spokane.

Regardless, organizers provide training to volunteers on what to do in case of an emergency. And if anything does happen, they have a trusted security officer they know they can rely on.

Rashad Salah, 32, has worked the Christmas Bureau for several years. He says it’s one of his favorite jobs.

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“TV and movies tell us security guards are bumbling fat idiots. They are the butt of a joke. Falling asleep with their feet up, they never pay attention to those security camera monitors while burglars steal gold or priceless paintings or stacks of cash. They’re easily distracted, easily gagged and tied up and — as in Die Hard or The Matrix or countless other action films — easily killed.

In real life, they work long, boring hours strolling the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, waving metal detectors at Mets games, printing sticky visitor passes at commercial buildings, checking IDs at concerts, standing for hours and hours on end at public landmarks, department stores, colleges, pharmacies.

There are more than two times as many security guards than police officers in New York state and roughly 10 times as many guards as firefighters. While a lot of kids grow up itching to join the NYPD or the fire department, it’s hard to find someone who said they wanted to be a security guard when they grew up.

The guard who patrols a corporate plaza with an H&R Block and Chase Bank in Midtown wants to be a train conductor. The guard scanning IDs at a commercial office building near Grand Central dreams of a career as a stand-up comedian. The guard who works at a Duane Reade in the Upper West Side hopes to be a cop. The older guards who aren’t retired police officers, when asked what they think of a career in security, will shrug, as if to say, “It’s a job. It pays the rent.”

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