A teenage girl who died Tuesday night time from an obvious fentanyl overdose at Bernstein High School in Hollywood and three different college students who have been hospitalized have been the latest in a rash of student overdoses stemming from medication being offered at a close-by park, based on officers.
Six college students, not together with the 4 from Tuesday night time, have overdosed in the final three weeks from medication obtained at Lexington Park, situated only a few blocks from Bernstein, based on Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Alberto Carvalho.
Carvalho met with the mother and father of the deceased girl Wednesday morning and confirmed that two of the 4 ladies who overdosed, together with the one who died, are 15-year-olds from Bernstein. The third girl was a 17-year-old from Hollywood High School and Carvalho didn’t have information on the fourth sufferer.
“What happens in parks, in the streets of our community, often has a direct or indirect impact or consequence in our schools. And in the worst of possible ways,” Carvalho mentioned. “We saw that happening last night.”
The string of overdoses has stemmed from one one that has been distributing medication at the park, which has since been closed, based on Carvalho, who added that police are “fairly close” to figuring out the person.
At about 9 p.m. Tuesday Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to a potential overdose at the school, situated in the 1300 block of North Wilton Place, based on a police news launch.
A girl, who was struggling from a potential overdose, instructed her stepfather that her good friend was in the women’ toilet, police mentioned. The guardian and a school worker discovered an unresponsive student inside the toilet and tried live-saving measures.
The Los Angeles Fire Department arrived and pronounced the girl dead at the scene. The different student was taken to a neighborhood hospital in steady situation.
Police mentioned they imagine the women purchased what they thought have been Percocet pills at Lexington Park and confirmed that two different college students have been discovered struggling from potential overdoses in the realm of the park, situated in the 5500 block of Lexington Avenue.
“School will be open today and we will have grief counselors on-site and available to support all students and employees,” school officers mentioned in an announcement. “As we work together with LAPD to uncover the details of this tragic situation, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of both students.”
The deceased girl’s title hasn’t been launched pending notification of her household. Students at Bernstein mentioned that a number of college students have overdosed in the primary two weeks of school, together with a boy was hospitalized however survived.
“It’s very easy to acquire and get drugs in high schools in general,” mentioned Natalia Ruiz, 14, a ninth-grader at the school. “Some kid might take it just like that and something bad could easily just happen — another overdose.”
Chey Payne, additionally a ninth-grader, mentioned medication have at all times been an issue in center school, however since coming to excessive school, overdoses have been extra frequent.
“I know people don’t take it seriously and think it’s cool to do that stuff,” she mentioned, “but it really could affect your family and others around you.”
Naomi Coarado, 14, mentioned the overdoses have made her extra cautious about whom to belief.
“Just be careful if anyone offers you something because you never know what they put in it,” she mentioned.
Dusty the Rapper, 40, whose 16-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter attend the school, mentioned he’s by no means heard of overdoses taking place at Bernstein earlier than.
“I was really, really surprised that this school isn’t on security enough to let kids go places and wander off and do drugs,” he mentioned. “I’m really surprised this happened and I’m shocked because my kids are athletes at this school, and I’m scared that they could get peer pressured into doing drugs.”
He added that he hopes the school and fogeys step up to verify one other overdose demise doesn’t happen at the school.
“I hope we don’t just let it go and sweep it under the rug,” he mentioned. “I hope we really address the issue and come together and figure out some kind of drug awareness program to indicate when students are using drugs or feel like they are under the influence. We need to get to them early before it leads to this.”
The LAPD is working with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency in the investigation as a result of of the continued nature of the drug gross sales, mentioned Carvalho, who added that the district’s fast response has been teaming with regulation enforcement to attempt to establish the perpetrators.
“One thing that must take place if, in fact, we are to break this vicious cycle of death through overdosing, is the community needs to muster up the necessary courage that will break the vow of silence, which is often induced through threat,” he mentioned. “There are people who know far more about who’s responsible, and they don’t speak about it because of fear.”
Carvalho mentioned there have been a soccer sport and volleyball sport happening Tuesday night time that made it “acceptable for the students to be at the school.”
“What we’re looking into obviously is: When did the students leave the school to presumably be at the park? What time did they return? Were there other individuals involved?” he mentioned. “And is this Bernstein’s specific problem — which we know it isn’t. Is it a Hollywood High problem? Or are there other schools equally impacted by this type of problem?”
Police warned that it’s changing into more and more frequent for drug sellers to lace pills with fentanyl — a extremely addictive artificial opioid used in medical settings to handle excessive ache. The drug is as much as 100 occasions stronger than morphine, making it very harmful exterior of medical settings.
Authorities have urged anybody with information on the overdose investigation to contact West Bureau Homicide investigators at (213) 382-9470.
Chey mentioned she’s by no means been interested by medication as a result of of household historical past, and the latest demise has made her much more apprehensive.
“I’ve never really done drugs before and this just added onto it about how I’m so scared to do that,” she mentioned. “Especially too scared to trust anyone.”