Early Saturday morning, two men and a woman in their 30s were found dead in an apartment on 19th Street between Lexington and San Carlos streets, according to the Medical Examiner’s office.
The three deceased were identified by the Medical Examiner, and the office released the names to the press. The families have since requested that the names be withheld and out of sensitivity to the families, we have honored their request.
Just before 8 a.m. on March 5, officers responded to a 911 call to “check on the wellbeing of three individuals,” said SFPD spokesperson Officer Robert Rueca. All three were found unresponsive and, despite efforts to render aid, all three were declared dead at the scene.
While Rueca said officers responding to the scene believed a drug overdose was at play, the Medical Examiner is still investigating the incident. One of the three individuals lived in the apartment where they were found.
District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen said she was told the individuals had consumed cocaine laced with fentanyl, but this has not been independently confirmed.
Ronen today called the deaths “absolutely tragic,” and said she hopes to implement citywide changes that can prevent such deaths in the future. “It’s a totally different day for people that occasionally use drugs for fun, that may not be addicted but are recreational users,” Ronen told Mission Local.
In addition to opening safe consumption sites and trying to ebb the flow of fentanyl into the city, Ronen said she is looking to make fentanyl testing strips and Narcan more widely accessible at bars, venues, and restaurants, the way condoms were made available during the HIV/AIDS crisis.
According to preliminary data from the Medical Examiner’s office, 46 deaths in January, 2022, are believed to be caused by accidental overdoses, 35.9 percent of the total deaths that month. About 60 percent of the overdose deaths involved fentanyl.
For context, according to a Feb. 22 report from the Medical Examiner, 645 deaths in 2021 are believed to be accidental overdoses, while city data shows 433 deaths from Covid-19 in the same period.
This article has been updated. The initial article contained the names of the three victims.
This is a breaking story, and will be updated as more information becomes available. Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and start the message with SFPD.
Whoever cut that has blood on their hands. How much more of that batch is out there?
Thoughts and prayers from Ronen….
Brutal comment.
But …. has a cynical ring of veracity to it.