(PHILADELPHIA) — A 14-year-old is dead and four other high school football players were wounded after gunfire erupted behind a Philadelphia high school Tuesday afternoon, police said.
The five unidentified victims were walking off the field after a scrimmage at Roxborough High School around 4:41 p.m. when someone in a green Ford Explorer drove up to the players and began shooting, police said.
The victims were transported to Temple University Hospital and Einstein Medical Center, according to police.
The deceased 14-year-old was shot once in the chest, police said.
A 17-year-old male victim was shot in the arm and leg, a 14-year-old male victim was shot once in the thigh and a 15-year-old was shot once in the leg, according to investigators. All three are listed in stable condition.
Deputy Philly Police Commissioner John Stanford said that all the players shot were from Roxborough High School and that the shooters left the scene on foot.
There are several cameras in the area where police will pull the footage, Stanford said.
“Death is final. You don’t come back from that,” Stanford said when asked on what parents can say to their kids.
The police didn’t immediately release information on the fifth victim.
There are no arrests and no suspects have been identified.
The high school released a statement later in the evening on its website informing parents about the situation.
“We are aware of a shooting that occurred at a football scrimmage this afternoon in Roxborough. Four students have been taken to local hospitals, and families of the four shooting victims are being contacted. Multiple Philadelphia officers are at the scene, as well as members from our Office of School Safety. We will update you as more information is available,” the statement read.
ABC News’ Darren J. Reynolds contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The House Jan. 6 committee scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed because of Hurricane Ian.
The storm is expected to make landfall in Florida at about the same time as the hearing was to take place.
“In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s proceedings,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. ‘We’re praying for the safety of all those in the storm’s path. The Select Committee’s investigation goes forward and we will soon announce a date for the postponed proceedings.”
Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Democratic member of the panel, represents Florida’s 7th Congressional District.
The committee was set to reconvene Wednesday after a two-month hiatus for a midday hearing.
But the rapid advancement of Hurricane Ian is now dominating airwaves, with the storm currently a Category 3 hurricane and expected to grow stronger.
Thompson previously told reporters that the committee would be airing “substantial footage” and “significant witness testimony” but didn’t give any more details on what the public can expect to see or what the focus of the hearing would be.
Lawmakers held eight televised hearings from June to July detailing what they described as former President Donald Trump’s “sophisticated” efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, which they said led to the events that took place on Jan. 6, 2021.
The hearings, two of which were held in prime-time, were produced to capture the public’s attention more than a year and half after the riot.
At the last hearing on July 21, the committee focused on the 187 minutes that passed between Trump’s speech at the Ellipse and his taped statement later that afternoon telling rioters to leave the Capitol. Using testimony from former White House officials, the committee said Trump resisted pressure to act as he watched the violence unfold on television.
“President Trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said. “He chose not to act.”
Since then, the committee has requested information from several people with ties to election denialism and Trump, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has agreed to a voluntary interview with the committee, her attorney confirmed last week.
There’s also the looming question of whether the committee will call former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before it wraps up the investigation.
Cheney told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that she hopes Pence will speak with lawmakers. The former vice president said he’d consider testifying if asked, but then implied that there could be constitutional constraints to any potential appearance.
Cheney also told Karl that she expects transcripts, records and other materials gathered by the committee over the course of its probe to be made public.
Wednesday’s hearing was anticipated to be the last before the committee releases a final report of its findings and recommendations by the end of the year.
Miles-long lines of traffic have formed at border crossings with some neighboring countries amid the exodus, as Russians pack exit routes, worried the government might soon impose further restrictions on military age men leaving.
Officials in Kazakhstan, which borders Russia to the south, said 98,000 Russians have crossed into their country since Putin announced the mobilization last Wednesday. Georgia’s interior ministry told ABC News Tuesday that 100,000 had entered its territory in the past few days. Tens of thousands more have left via other countries, including Finland and Mongolia. The European Union’s border service said 66,000 Russians had entered the bloc over the past week, 30% more than the week before.
Russians began fleeing the country within hours of Putin’s ordering what he called a “partial” mobilization to call-up 300,000 men in an effort to reverse the course of his faltering war in Ukraine. In reality, experts say there are little restrictions on who can be drafted and there are widespread reports of men being mobilized regardless of their eligibility.
Although the mobilization for now is officially meant to apply only to those with some military experience, many fear the criteria could be expanded and that the government could block military age men from leaving the country. Men subject to the draft are barred from leaving the country and widespread reports are emerging of men with military experience being turned back from borders.
At the Verkhny Lars crossing where Russia borders Georgia, a line of hundreds of cars has formed, stretching back around 12 miles, according to journalists there, with thousands of people waiting, some sleeping in their cars. The BBC reported 2,500 cars were currently in the line, citing Russia’s customs service.
Russian authorities on Tuesday confirmed that Russian troops with armored vehicles had set up a checkpoint at the crossing to turn back those subject to the call-up and were handing out draft papers there. Officials said a mobile enlistment office had also been set up at the border crossing.
Kazakhstan, which has a nearly 5,000 mile-long border with Russia and a relaxed entry regime, has become a magnet for those leaving, with border crossings swamped. A 37-year-old man who entered Kazakhstan Monday near the Oral-Uralsk crossing said the line of traffic waiting at one checkpoint point now stretched nearly 20 miles.
“There’s simply a hellish line — it’s endless. And moreover at all checkpoints,” the man, a manager from Tver, a city just outside Moscow, said by phone. He asked to remain anonymous for fear of punishment by the Russian authorities.
The man said he had spent 20 hours by road to reach the border from Moscow and was now in the border city of Uralsk, on the Kazakhstan side. Although he is currently not subject to the draft because he has no military experience, he said he had still decided to flee because he feared the borders being closed soon and did not believe in fighting against Ukraine.
“There is a risk that later you will simply find yourself in a cage,” he said.
He said he had chosen to leave despite having only $250 in his pocket and planned to stay with relatives initially, before finding work in Kazakhstan.
“I’m preparing myself for a hard time. I’m preparing myself that I won’t know where to sleep, what I’m going to eat,” he said.
A local journalist writing for the Russian outlet Novaya Gazeta.eu wrote, that hundreds of Russian men with luggage could be seen on the streets in Uralsk. Local authorities have reportedly commandeered a cinema to house some of the influx.
The sudden mobilization has abruptly brought home the war for millions of Russians, after months during which the Kremlin has sought to present it as a distant conflict with little effect on people’s daily lives. Group chats have sprung up on the Telegram social media platform, where Russians anxiously trade information about potential crossing points and look for spots on transport headed over the borders. One chat called Guide to the Free World, has over 100,000 members.
The Kremlin has said for now it has made no decision on whether to close Russia’s borders in response to the mobilization.
Asked by journalists on Monday about reports in independent Russian media that the Kremlin was considering closures in the coming days, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was “not aware of anything about that.”
“At the present moment, no decisions have been taken on that account,” he said.
The branches of the Federal Security Service in the southern Kurgan and Tyumen regions told the TASS state news agency, that border guards were stopping those subject to mobilization, informing them they must appear at their enlistment offices.
(COLUMBIA, SC) — The South Carolina House rejected a bill Tuesday that would’ve banned nearly all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected. The proposed ban would have made exceptions for when the mother’s life or health is in danger, for fetuses with fatal anomalies and first-trimester pregnancies that are a result of rape or incest.
The bill was introduced by the state Senate in September after it rejected an abortion ban proposed by the House. The proposed legislation comes as the state Supreme Court blocked a six-week ban on abortion from going into effect amid ongoing litigation.
The bill failed with a vote of 95 to 11, as lawmakers remain at odds over regulating abortion in the state.
The bill would have made it illegal to perform an abortion or administer or distribute drugs that induce an abortion. A person found guilty of providing an abortion would have faced a fine of $10,000 and jail time of up to two years.
The proposed bill would have also required physicians who provide abortion services in line with the exceptions for rape or incest to report the procedure to their county sheriff’s department within 24 hours of performing or inducing the abortion.
Physicians would have been required to report the name and contact information for the woman making the allegation and to preserve a DNA sample from the fetal remains and submit it as evidence to authorities.
The bill required abortion providers to add a note to the patient’s medical records stating that the abortion was performed under one of the exceptions.
Under the bill, Planned Parenthood would’ve also been prevented from utilizing state funds for any purposes related to abortions.
In August, the state House passed a near-total ban on abortion which only provided exceptions for pregnancies that are a result of rape and incest. The state Senate rejected the bill, passing its own abortion bill and sending it back to the House.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster had signaled he would sign an abortion ban into law, telling ABC News in August that he would “carefully consider any legislation that ultimately reaches his desk, but he believes this is a good starting point for the Senate to begin its deliberations,” referring to the first House bill.
McMaster also approved in February 2021 a package of bills banning abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected. The ban took effect after Roe was overturned, but is now blocked by the South Carolina Supreme Court while justices review a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood in July. The lawsuit claims that the ban is an invasion of privacy and violation of equal protection under the state constitution.
(WASHINGTON) — Jury selection is underway Tuesday in one of the most complex and crucial cases being brought by the Justice Department in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, as five members of the Oath Keepers anti-government group — including its founder Stewart Rhodes — stand trial on charges that they conspired together to oppose by force the lawful transition of presidential power.
The trial, which is expected to last over a month, could prove to be the toughest test yet for prosecutors in the DOJ’s sprawling investigation of the Jan. 6 attack, which has so far resulted in federal charges against nearly 900 defendants.
Failing to secure convictions against Rhodes or others in the case with the rarely-brought seditious conspiracy statute, experts say, could prove to be a significant setback to the department’s ongoing efforts to target alleged domestic extremist groups driven to carry out acts of violence against the government.
Rhodes, Thomas Caldwell, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins are among the first group of Oath Keepers to go to trial for seditious conspiracy and multiple other felony charges connected to their alleged actions surrounding the Capitol attack. Four other members of the group are scheduled to go to trial in late November.
The government has already secured three guilty pleas for seditious conspiracy from Oath Keepers Joshua James, William Todd Wilson and Brian Ulrich, all of whom admitting they joined the group with the goal of using force to stop the peaceful transfer of power from then-outgoing President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.
The group is alleged to have stashed firearms and ammunition at hotels surrounding Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, and used encrypted communications to coordinate their actions breaching the Capitol and seeking out lawmakers involved in the certification of Biden’s election win.
Prosecutors say images they have submitted in court filings filings show members of the group, clad in tactical gear, moving through the pro-Trump mob up the Capitol steps in a military-style “stack” formation to enter the building.
Prosecutors allege that multiple members of the group remained back at a Ballston, Virginia, hotel during the attack as part of a “Quick Reaction Force” that was tasked with rapidly transporting weapons to D.C., possibly by ferrying them up the Potomac River, if they were called up by Rhodes.
While Rhodes is not alleged to have entered the Capitol building itself, prosecutors have singled him out as a lead coordinator in calling on various chapters of the group around the country to come to Washington, and calling on members to ready themselves for a potential “civil war” to keep Trump in office.
The trial, in D.C. district court, is expected to feature testimony from dozens of witnesses, with prosecutors planning to introduce thousands of private messages sent between members of the group leading up to and following the Jan. 6 attack that detail their alleged plans to keep Biden from taking office.
The federal judge overseeing the case, Amit Mehta, recently rejected a last-minute effort from Rhodes to delay the trial and replace the legal team that had represented him since his arrest in January of this year.
Mehta has similarly rejected requests from other members of the group to delay the trial, as they argued that potential public hearings or the release of an interim report by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack would serve to taint any jury impaneled in the case.
(ANNAPOLIS, MD) — Jonathan and Diana Toebbe pleaded guilty for a second time on Tuesday to federal charges that they tried to sell secrets about U.S. submarine nuclear propulsion systems to a foreign country.
The couple originally pleaded guilty in February but a judge threw out the plea agreements last month after deciding the sentences called for were too low.
The Toebbes, of Annapolis, Maryland, seemed to neighbors and co-workers to be the typical suburban couple before they were arrested last October for allegedly scheming to sell secrets about Virginia-class nuclear submarines to a foreign country, which was not identified in court papers but was Brazil, a source told ABC News.
At the time of his plea, Toebbe conceded he sent a package to a foreign government, listing a return address in Pittsburgh that contained a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing relationship to buy additional restricted data.
Toebbe said he began corresponding with someone he thought was a representative of the foreign government who was really an undercover FBI agent.
On June 8, 2021, the undercover agent sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to Toebbe as “good faith” payment.
A few weeks later, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe traveled to a location in West Virginia, prosecutors said. There, with Diana Toebbe acting as a lookout, Jonathan Toebbe placed an SD card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged “dead drop” location, they said.
After retrieving the SD card, the undercover agent sent Jonathan Toebbe a $20,000 cryptocurrency payment, prosecutors said. In return, Jonathan Toebbe emailed the undercover agent a decryption key for the SD card. A review of the SD card revealed that it contained restricted data related to submarine nuclear reactors, the indictment said.
Diana Toebbe, 46, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data, conceding she “knowingly and voluntarily” joined a conspiracy with her husband, a former nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy, to sell secrets to a foreign country, which ABC News has previously identified as Brazil.
“I acted as lookout for my husband when he serviced three dead drops,” Toebbe said.
According to the charging documents, one of those dead drops included a blue 16GB SanDisk SD “wrapped in plastic and placed between two slices of bread on a half of a peanut butter sandwich.”
The new plea agreement appeared to call for a sentence of about 12 years in prison, four times as long as Diana Toebbe’s prior agreement. Magistrate Judge Robert Trumble accepted her plea but noted a different judge would determine whether the new sentencing terms were sufficient.
Jonathan Toebbe, 43, also pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to communicate restricted data pursuant to an agreement that calls for a sentence of up to 17 years in prison.
Toebbe sent a letter to the intelligence service of Brazil in April 2020 that “stated a desire to sell documents containing U.S. Navy information marked CONFIDENTIAL that included printouts, digital media files containing technical details, operations manuals, and performance reports,” the charging documents said.
“I apologize for this poor translation into your language. Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation. This is not a hoax,” the letter said, according to the criminal complaint.
His theft “irreparably compromised” a critical component of national defense, Judge Gina Groh said in August when she rejected the initial plea agreements.
At the hearing, Groh read an impact statement submitted by the Navy that said, in part, the “breadth and depth of Mr. Toebbe’s betrayal for personal gain is extraordinary.”
This is a 50% drop from the seven-day rolling average of 394 recorded one month ago, the data shows.
Similar situations are occurring in cities across the U.S. In New York City — the epicenter of the outbreak — the seven-day average of infections has declined by 85.7% over the course of a month from 35 to five, as of Sept. 23, according to data from the city’s Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.
Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News there are two reasons why monkeypox infections are trending downward.
One reason is that at-risk people have changed their behaviors.
The outbreak has primarily been concentrated in men who have sex with men, a group that includes people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary, although health officials have said anyone — regardless of sexual orientation — is at risk if they have direct contact with an infected patient.
Schaffner said those at risk have been inundated with information about how to reduce their risk and have followed doctors’ advice.
“There’s been a terrific amount of public health education that’s gone out and it’s gone out particularly to the MSM community and the LBGTQ community that’s been primarily affected,” he said. “So, you have a target population, they’ve been literally flooded, in some instances, with information about monkeypox, and what you as an individual can do to protect yourself against becoming infected.”
Schaffner added, “And so a lot of the communication I think, has been successful. And here’s the inferential part, I think people may have altered some of their behaviors, to reduce their risk.”
A joint survey from the CDC, Emory University and Johns Hopkins University found about one-half of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men reduced their number of sexual partners, one-time anonymous partners, and reduced use of dating apps.
The second reason for the decline is vaccinations, Schaffner said.
As of Sept. 20, more than 684,000 JYNNEOS vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S., CDC data shows. As of the week ending Sept. 10, the number of second doses administered are more than the number of first doses, meaning people are returning to receive full protection.
Last month, to increase the number of doses available, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a new strategy to inject the vaccine intradermally, just below the first layer of skin, rather than subcutaneously, or under all the layers of skin — allowing one vial of vaccine to be administered as five separate doses rather than a single dose.
“We had data that told us it would be as effective and that appears also to be working,” Schaffner said. “[There’s been] acceptance of the vaccine by people in the target population and we’ve developed the capacity to get it out, make it available easily without stigma.”
However, Schaffner said the battle is not over yet and there should be a sustained effort on the part of public health officials, clinicians and community leaders to keep spreading information on the seriousness of monkeypox and how to reduce risk as well as how to get vaccinated.
“This will require sustained attention for some time,” he said. “It’s wonderful that things look as though they’re plateauing and declining, but we have to keep attention on wherever this disease is, and we have to keep our public health and communications efforts out there.”
“It’s not ‘mission accomplished.’ We have to keep being careful and take advantage of the vaccine,” Schaffner added.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. State Department says it’s already time to start thinking about your winter holiday plans, especially if they include international travel.
“Applying in the fall or winter allows for faster routine processing due to lower seasonal demand,” according to a recent release from the department. “Travelers should plan ahead and apply for their passports early to avoid the stress and extra cost for expedited processing. With timely effort, applicants also avoid the need for last-minute appointments at regional passport agencies, which become increasingly difficult to obtain when demand is high.”
Average wait times, however, are still longer than pre-pandemic averages.
Before March 2020, standard processing times took between five to seven weeks and two to three weeks for expedited applications. Now, the State Department says travelers can expect a wait of eight to 10 weeks for regular service and four to six weeks if they fast-track their request, which requires having a trip planned to a foreign country within 14 days and paying an extra $60 fee.
A valid passport that does not expire within six months is required for entry in most countries. The State Department currently has completed two phases of a pilot program for online renewal, with a third scheduled to open next month.
The online renewal option is expected to be accessible to most Americans beginning in early 2023.
The new program was developed as a result of an executive order issued by President Biden in late 2021 that instructed agencies to cut down on bureaucratic hurdles to access government services, reducing the “time tax” Americans pay while navigating outdated systems.
“Every interaction between the Federal Government and the public, whether it involves renewing a passport or calling for a status update on a farm loan application, should be seen as an opportunity for the Government to save an individual’s time,” the order says.
While it’s still unclear whether the order will reduce total wait times for passport renewals, the online process would save applicants a trip to their local passport office or from having to print, complete and mail hard copies of their documents.
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court issued a ruling Tuesday that could delay a former magazine columnist’s defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an earlier district court decision that said the United States government could not substitute for Trump as a defendant in the lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll, a former columnist at Elle, has said she kept the dress she wore the day Trump allegedly sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s, a claim he has denied. She sued him in November 2019 after he denied raping her by questioning her credibility and demeaning her personal appearance. Trial had been scheduled for February.
Trump said he was acting in his capacity as president when he denied her claim and therefore was immune from Carroll’s lawsuit under the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from personal liability.
The district court said Trump was not an employee of the government as defined in the act and, regardless, had not acted within the scope of his employment when he allegedly defamed Carroll.
In reversing and vacating the decision, the appellate court said the president of the United States role “fits comfortably” within the statute, but did not reach the question of whether his public statements denying Carroll’s allegations occurred within the scope of his employment.
“President is a government employee in the most basic sense of the term: He renders service to his employer, the United States government, in exchange for a salary and other job-related benefits,” the opinion said.
In a responding statement, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, pointed to the dissenting opinion from Judge Denny Chin: “As Judge Chin, the only 2nd Circuit judge to reach the merits, explained in his powerful opinion, Donald Trump was not acting within the scope of his duties as president when he defamed our client, E. Jean Carroll because he was not serving any purpose of the federal government and because the comment ‘she’s not my type’ is not something one would expect the president of the United States to say in the course of his duties.”
Alina Habba, an attorney for Trump, said in a statement, “We are extremely pleased with the 2nd Circuit’s decision today in reversing and vacating the District Court’s finding in this matter. This decision will protect the ability of all future presidents to effectively govern without hindrance.”
The 2nd Circuit, however, deferred the question of whether Trump’s statements denying Carroll’s sexual assault allegations occurred within the scope of his employment and whether the government is entitled to substitute for him at trial. Instead, the court asked the D.C. Court of Appeals to render a judgment because the question depends on that court’s interpretation of employment law.
Both Habba and Kaplan said they were “confident” the D.C. Court of Appeals would agree with their respective sides.
Carroll previously announced her intention to sue Trump in state court for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under New York state’s Adult Survivors Act, a law recently signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul that gives adult accusers a year from Nov. 24 to bring claims regardless of when the alleged sexual misconduct happened.
(WITCHITA FALLS, TX) — A Texas mom is speaking out after her daughter died earlier this month following a suspected opioid overdose. Experts involved in the case believe that fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, might be to blame.
Silvia Martinez of Wichita Falls, Texas, told “Good Morning America” that she wanted to share what happened to her eldest daughter Alizé Martinez to potentially save other children and prevent other families from experiencing what she and her family are going through.
Silvia Martinez said that on the morning of Sept. 17 — which she described as the “worst day” of her life — she found her daughter stiff and lifeless in bed.
“I just screamed. I was in so much shock. It just didn’t feel real because I was like, ‘Not my daughter, not my baby,’ ” she recalled. “God knew I couldn’t live without my kids. I couldn’t believe it.”
She said that although she had not yet received an official report, the medical examiner said they suspect the death of Alizé Martinez was possibly the result of a fentanyl overdose.
Alizé Martinez, the eldest of Silvia Martinez’s five children, was 19 and about to re-enroll in cosmetology school. Silvia Martinez said her daughter had a “super goofy personality” and was “always happy” but had been “struggling” with addiction, something she had been trying to help her through.
“I didn’t know this until it was further down the line but when she first tried [opioids], she did it as a party favor, because her friends were doing it,” Silvia Martinez told “GMA.”
“She thought she was taking a prescription drug that gets prescribed to people from doctors. so to her, that her friends were doing it, well, it comes from a doctor so you know, should be OK on that and not knowing that it was laced with fentanyl,” Martinez continued.
Experts warn that people should never take medication that is not specifically prescribed to them and should always precisely follow prescription instructions provided by their doctor.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is anywhere from 50 to 100 times more potent than the narcotics heroin and morphine. Synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths have increased 56% from 2019 through 2020, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the public health agency estimates that more than 150 people die from synthetic opioids each day. Naloxone is a medication that can reverse the effects of opioids, and can help someone who has overdosed on opioids.
Alizé Martinez’s funeral was held on Sept. 22, according to her mother, and the police department in Wichita Falls, a city in northern Texas, is currently investigating her death.
A spokesperson for the Wichita Falls Police Department confirmed in an email to “GMA” that officials were indeed investigating “three suspected fentanyl related fatal overdoses,” including that of “a 19-year-old female” whom they identified as Alizé Martinez.
The spokesperson also noted police had “made three arrests for the charge of Murder … for illegally distributing Fentanyl which caused the death of an individual.”
Silvia Martinez hopes that despite her family’s tragedy, she can raise more awareness about the dangers of street drugs, including opioids and specifically fentanyl.
“The most shocking part was how available it is,” she said. “A lot of these pills are looking like candy. And now we don’t even want to take our kids trick or treating this year … because we are terrified that our kids are going to get something like that in one of their bags.”
“As parents, we need to talk to our children about this drug, about how it’s going around everywhere,” she added.
Silvia Martinez’s message to other parents, meanwhile, is to speak up if they suspect their kids are taking drugs.
“Don’t be ashamed. Don’t be embarrassed. Speak out,” she said. “Let other people hear your voices because we need to be the voices for our children.”
“We need to get the drugs off the street,” she added. “We need more resources for our children who are struggling with this. We need all the voices we can: every mother, every father, anybody who struggles with this fentanyl addiction. We need more voices. We need to make a change for our kids. I don’t want to see any more lives gone due to this.”
If someone you know is experiencing signs or symptoms of an overdose, call 911 or immediately present to the nearest emergency department. The national poison control hotline is available for questions 24/7 at 1-800-222-1222.
If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, you can call the SAMHSA help line at 1-800-662-HELP. SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service.
