LOS ANGELES—Three men are dead on May 5 in downtown Los Angeles after police say they ingested the drug fentanyl.
A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer who responded to their apartment is in the hospital after possibly inhaling the drug accidentally.
Police were called at 11:45 p.m. on May 4 to the 600 block of Spring Street after a relative of the men contacted authorities to conduct a welfare check at the residence, said Officer Melissa Podany of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Mirko Salaris, 48, Jason Turnage, 47, and a third man died at the scene, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
The identity of the third man, believed to have been in his 40s, was withheld pending notification of relatives. Autopsies were pending to determine their cause of death.
The LAPD officer who was exposed to the drug was taken to a hospital in stable condition and was expected to recover, police said. Hazmat crews were also called to the scene as a precaution.
