3 found dead in Downtown LA after possible fentanyl overdoses

Authorities are investigating three deaths as possible drug overdoses in Downtown Los Angeles, after their bodies were found inside a building in the Skid Row area.

They were located near a homeless encampment near the 600 block of Wall Street between 6th and 7th Streets Wednesday afternoon. Officers were dispatched to the area after learning of the three people who were unresponsive.

Los Angeles Police Department officers were in the area speaking with witnesses after the bodies were discovered. 

Officers disclosed that one of the victims was in their 50s and the other two in their 30s.

No further information was provided by investigators. 

While exact circumstances of death have not yet been disclosed, pending confirmation from the coroner's office, the deaths have raised concerns over "tranq," a powerful mixture of fentanyl and horse tranquilizer, making its way to the Southland. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health issued a warning about tranq in March, warning about the mixture after four deaths were noted in San Francisco. 

Officially known as Xylazine, the horse tranquilizer becomes highly potent and often lethal when mixed with opioids like fentanyl. 

"When it's combined with something like an opioid that slows down and ultimately can stop someone's breathing, combing a sedative on top of that high potency opioid can be very, very dangerous," said Dr. Gary Tsai with Los Angeles Department of Public Health's Substance Abuse Prevention and Control.

The incident took place just around the corner from the Union Rescue Mission, a shelter and recovery center run by Reverend Andy Bales. He says that Los Angeles County loses about five people a day due to complications that arise from homelessness. 

"By far, those are mostly overdose deaths," he said. "They're surrounded by every drug known to man available on Skid Row."

Xylazine has been noted to worsen any skin infections like wounds, large sores and ulcers, granting it the nickname as the "zombie drug." In some cases, the decomposing skin has led to amputation.

Los Angeles is far from the first big city to suffer from the possible implications of tranq's availability on the street, with Philadelphia's homeless community being considered "ground zero" for the drug in America. It was first noted in Puerto Rico in the 2000s, according to CNN. 

Often, Xylazine, which actually comes in the form of a clear liquid, can be cooked down into a powder and pressed into counterfeit pills made to resemble Norco, Percocet and Vicodin as well as sedatives like Xanax. 

"I heard the other day that tranq is being mixed with fentanyl on Skid Row," Bales said. "I even tracked down the tent, maybe a block from this location, where the overdose that's happened, that's mixing tranq with meth to make the hit — the high — longer and stronger."

According to The Los Angeles Times, the building is owned by the Skid Row Housing Trust, one of the Southland's largest providers for at-risk people living in Downtown LA.

Bales says that he recently spoke with Mayor Karen Bass about the housing, noting that many of the buildings owned by "The Trust" are decrepit and overrun by cartel-backed gangs.

In the meantime, he said he's alerted law enforcement about the tent and what he believes is happening there.