"We got a call from a Walmart employee about a welfare check in a tractor-trailer that was parked on the lot here. 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," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said at a news conference, as quoted by CNN.
Another 30 people were injured, with 17 critical and 13 in serious condition, they all have been hospitalized, according to a local fire department spokesman. It is not yet known where the trailer arrived from and how long it has been at Walmart parking, the authorities said. The driver was arrested at the scene.
Texas is the second-largest and the second most populous state in the United States. In the southeast, it has a long border with Mexico. The construction of the wall to combat undocumented immigrants and crime was one of US President Donald Trump's key campaign promises. Trump initially promised that Mexico would pay for the construction of the wall, despite the constant refutation of Mexican officials who said that the country would never finance it. Subsequently, Trump admitted that the money of US taxpayers would be needed for the construction of the wall.