Candlelight vigil to be held for teenage victims of Carrollton fentanyl drug ring
CARROLLTON, Texas - A candlelight vigil will be held Friday in Carrollton for teenage fentanyl overdose victims tied to a drug ring.
Federal officials say they bought the deadly pills from a group of drug dealers who were selling them on school campuses.
The vigil will also act as a way to educate parents about the dangers of these drugs.
Daisy Palomo is a facilitator of a school program called Rush 180. She says when she learned one of the middle school students in the program had died, she was in shock.
"The first one happened last fall," she said. "The only reason I knew is it was one of the students of the rush 180 program at perry middle school."
Later, Palomo learned that a student and two others died from fentanyl, and six more students in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District were hospitalized.
MORE: 22-year-old arrested, considered 'main source' of fentanyl that killed 3 Carrollton teens, feds say
What we now know, according to police, is that at least three accused drug dealers were distributing fentanyl-laced pills to student drug dealers at three Carrollton-area schools.
Pastor Vincent Gonzales of North Dallas Family Church says he hopes Friday's vigil will help start a conversation between parents and their kids.
"We’re concerned about young people. They do not speak to their parents or anyone. They have a lot of fear. No one wants to be the bad guy," he said. "If we talk more about it, we could see things turn around in Carrollton."
Gonzales says it is critical that parents are proactively talking to their kids before they ever consider trying what they may think is a prescription pill.
Experts say even a grain of salt amount of fentanyl can be deadly.
Three people are facing federal charges in the Carrollton drug ring that was peddling dangerous pills to teenage dealers.
This week, Dallas DEA special agent in charge said the margin of error between life and death with these pills is microscopic