Therapists fanned out across Santa Rosa City Schools campuses Monday to comfort students affected by the overdose deaths of three district students over the weekend.
A fourth person — a 19-year-old former district student — also died over the weekend from what police called a separate, likely overdose.
Five current high school students overdosed in three separate locations on Saturday, two of whom died.
Police said a 16-year-old female student at Santa Rosa High School and an 18-year-old male student at Montgomery High School were found unresponsive in a bed at a home in the 2100 block of Brookwood Drive on Saturday.
First responders arrived at approximately 8:15 p.m. And pronounced the teens dead shortly thereafter.
Earlier that day, at 5:15 a.m. Saturday, two more girls in Santa Rosa were hospitalized after overdosing on fentanyl.
Police are still determining whether all the overdoses are linked.
In what police said is a separate event, a 19-year-old former student died of what police suspect was an overdose, though they did not provide details.
And a 21-year-old man, who is a student in the district’s transitions program, also died over the weekend. Police said his death may have been from natural causes.
Suspect arrested
Police arrested Ramon Nunez, 21, on Sunday for allegedly selling fentanyl to two of the high school victims. Nunez was identified as a suspect in the Brookwood Drive deaths. Officers found him at approximately 12:45 p.m. Sunday in a vehicle in the parking lot of a retail business in the 1900 block of Santa Rosa Avenue.
Detectives with a search warrant found narcotics and other items associated with drug sales, including small plastic baggies with a distinctive black peace sign logo police believe is linked to the Brookwood Drive deaths.
“Our hearts are broken by the loss of these young lives. As a community, we must unite to support one another and find strength in our shared grief. …”
Superintendent Daisy Morales
Police said they are investigating Nunez’s possible connection to other overdoses in Santa Rosa. He was booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of two counts of second-degree homicide and drug charges, where he is being held without bail.
Staff from the Sonoma County Office of Education, Pets are Loving Support, and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Chaplaincy Program were at affected campuses Monday.
“Our hearts are broken by the loss of these young lives,” said Daisy Morales, SRCS superintendent. “As a community, we must unite to support one another and find strength in our shared grief. Let us hold our loved ones close and offer compassion to those who are hurting.”
School district staff are being offered support through HearYou.org, which provides up to 10 telehealth therapy sessions.
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