3 dead, 1 recovering in Gilroy fentanyl poisoning
GILROY, Calif. - Three South Bay men died and a fourth was hospitalized after the group ingested drugs laced with fentanyl.
"Everybody out there that’s still using, it’s a bad deal man. You don’t know what you’re getting," said Chris, a friend of the victims.
The bodies of four men were found in a home in the 10000 block of Garcia Lane in Gilroy just after 3 p.m. on Monday.
All the men were in their 50s.
Friends identified the lone survivor as 55-year-old Aryan Jones.
"He’d give you the shirt off his back. If you broke down, he’d come and get you," said Jones' childhood friend Chris who arrived at the scene of the incident Tuesday.
Added another friend, "Aryan was a good individual. All else aside, he’s a very good man. This is why we’re here."
Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies on Monday raced to assist firefighters with an emergency call at the home on Garcia Lane in Gilroy.
There, deputies found the four men unresponsive inside.
"Deputies are equipped with Narcan in their patrol vehicles, and immediately administered it to the four unresponsive males inside that house," said Russell Davis, spokesperson for the sheriff's office.
Three of the men died at the scene.
Jones survived and is recovering at Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy.
"He has no idea what happened. We tried to talk to him, but he can’t hear right now. I don’t know, lack of oxygen to the brain? But they’re doing a CT scan on him right now," said Chris.
In April 2022, Santa Clara County created a fentanyl working group to combat a public health crisis and rising death rates tied to this drug.
The coroner’s office says there were 135 fentanyl deaths in 2021, and at least that many in 2022, but final statistics for last year are still being tabulated.
Investigators collected evidence at the home and are working to track down the source of the drug the four men ingested.
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Twitter, @JesseKTVU and Instagram, @jessegontv