SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The South Lake Tahoe Community came together Friday evening to remember four lives lost in what law enforcement is calling a suspected drug-related overdose.
Four people were found dead Monday morning in a South Lake Tahoe home.
“They loved love. They are good people,” said a friend to one of the people who died.
The tragedy impacting three families of 32-year-old Abraham Lemus, 33-year-old Keely Pereira, brothers 35-year-old Adam Joy and 37-year-old Clifford Joy.
The Joy brother’s mother told friends and other families Clifford never partied or did drugs, but decided for the first time that night.
“One night. Now he is gone and that is what I am saying, you cannot take chances anymore,” said Clifford’s mother.
South Lake Tahoe Police say Monday morning they found two people dead at a home on Roger Avenue from an apparent fentanyl overdose. Two more would die after CPR and doses of Narcan failed to counteract the suspected fentanyl.
The city says the substance at the scene tested presumptively as fentanyl, but autopsies and toxicology reports are pending.
“We really look at this the majority of our community as a poisoning, not as a drug overdose,” said Mayor Cody Bass. “This was individuals had taken something that they did not realize they were taken.”
Mayor Bass says this tragedy is nothing they have experienced before.
“These were individuals who worked in our community that were born and raised,” said Bass. “They are unbelievably talented, amazing individuals.”
More than a hundred family members and friends came to support and comfort each other. Narcan and testing strips were made available at the vigil.
“We cannot stay quiet about it. The quieter we are, the more kids die,” said Tamara Wallace, South Lake Tahoe Council Member.
Wallace knows the pain too well.
“Two years ago today, I buried my son. He was 29 and he took a black-market Xanax pill that was laced with fentanyl. He went to sleep and never woke up,” said Wallace.
A pain that is impacting even more families in this close-knit Sierra community.
Family and friends hope if there is any takeaway from this week, it is that people take care of one another and do not hold it in and seek out for help.
WATCH MORE: Drug-related deaths in South Lake Tahoe: Found substance tested presumptively as fentanyl
