Students mourn after suspected fentanyl overdoses claim lives of Santa Rosa teens
Drug overdoses took a deadly toll in Santa Rosa over the weekend.
Police are investigating the deaths of four young people, and the hospitalization of two more, to see if they are connected to a man arrested for selling narcotics, possibly laced with fentanyl.
On Monday, a makeshift memorial was growing in front of Santa Rosa High School. A 16-year-old student named Gia died from a drug overdose on Saturday. Her friend, Sydney, said it's been heartbreaking.
"I really read into it, and I had to go home. I crashed out, honestly, at work. I was crying," she said. "I just can't...I just don't understand why people who are one of the brightest, bubbly people have to be taken away."
A memorial was also set up at Montgomery High, after an 18-year-old named Logan also passed away.
Police said both students were found Saturday night at a residence on Brookwood Drive, victims of a suspected fentanyl overdose, although officers said they may have thought they were ingesting cocaine.
Earlier in the day, two other teenagers were hospitalized for suspected overdose.
"The fentanyl's in everything," said Sydney. "It's even in weed. It's not just in cocaine, it's also in weed, it's in anything, honestly. And it's so scary."
Police arrested a 21-year-old man named Ramon Nunez on Sunday, facing charges of second-degree homicide and furnishing narcotics to a minor. They found distinctive packaging on him, plastic baggies with black peace signs, possibly linking him to the two overdose deaths.
Meanwhile, at Montgomery High, Principal April Santos said Logan was a good student with a great core group of friends.
"It's devastating," said Santos. "I mean, there are no words to express the trauma that goes along with a loss like this, let alone for the family. My heart goes out to them because I can't imagine this loss of a child. But it's also the students here on campus. That's a lifelong friend, a peer they planned to walk across the stage with and do all those high school rituals and routines. So, it's hard. It's really, really hard."
The district was offering extra grief counseling at both schools and a Black Labrador therapy dog named Gemma was on hand to help ease the trauma.
The dog's handler, Terry Swehla, said Gemma can sense the students who are suffering in silence.
"She will go to the person that doesn't want to talk, that is having a really hard time, and she's, like, 'I'm going to sit with you.' It's very powerful," Swhela told CBS News Bay Area.
Back at Santa Rosa High, Sydney said she hopes it's a wake up call that her fellow students will take seriously.
"Now, it's like you have to be cautious about everything, even smoking weed. You literally have to be cautious," she said. "You can't...you cannot trust any of these people who are selling. He needs to be kept locked up. He is a murderer."
As of Monday, police had not officially released the names of the four students who suffered overdoses.
Two other young people died in Santa Rosa over the weekend, one possibly from drugs, the other may be from natural causes. Police said they don't appear to be related to the other overdoses, but all four deaths are being investigated.
In the meantime, they are encouraging parents to have open conversations with their children about the extreme risk of fentanyl-contaminated drugs.
