PA - Pittsburgh 3 dead, 4 hospitalized: all wearing orange wristbands 22 Sept 2019

[Betty P]

Chris Togneri, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said the authorities had received a report at 3:20 a.m. of a man found on the street who required medical help.

Nearly an hour later, a second medical call came about a man in the elevator of an apartment building about two blocks away from where the first man had been found, he said.

At about 5:40 a.m., the authorities found five men inside an apartment, two of whom were dead. The man found in the elevator also died, he said.

3 Are Dead and 4 Hospitalized in Pittsburgh: All Were Wearing Orange Wristbands, Officials Say

Police say they have identified two local venues that were using orange wristbands last night.

Pittsburgh: 3 people are dead and 4 others are hospitalized in a mysterious 'medical situation' - CNN

ETA: According to other news reports, none of the victims lived in the building where they were found and there was no evidence of drug use in the apartment or on the victims found outside. If so, whose apartment was it and how did they get there? Did someone invite them in, then later disappear? Very odd circumstances.

3 dead, 4 hospitalized in Pittsburgh after ‘medical situation’; victims wearing orange wrist bands: cops

 

[SandyQLS]

Pittsburgh police confirm multiple deaths due to 'drug overdose' | Daily Mail Online

• All of the victims were male and one many was 33 years old, officials confirmed

• Pittsburgh police said the incident was an 'isolated drug overdose event'

 

[SandyQLS]

Was this maybe a bachelor party? Saturday night, orange wristbands, a bit older than fraternity age, all males, found where they don't live, upscale?

DM: "Photos from KDKA reporter Chris Hoffman showed police cars parked outside the Southside Works City Club Apartments, but it's unclear where exactly the incident occurred"

 

[Betty P]

Pittsburgh police confirm multiple deaths due to 'drug overdose' | Daily Mail Online

• All of the victims were male and one many was 33 years old, officials confirmed

• Pittsburgh police said the incident was an 'isolated drug overdose event'

Very scary. If it's fentanyl (my suspicion only) people need to stop using MJ vape cartridges or drugs bought on the street. That stuff is showing up everywhere these days, with buyers not knowing what they're getting.

JMO

More info at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

3 dead, 4 hospitalized from suspected overdoses after police called to South Side apartment building

He said several events gave out orange wristbands Saturday night. But, he said, police believe the victims left the venue that had the writstbands and went to another location to do the drugs. They then overdosed at the apartment building.

"We have no indication there was a party (at the apartment)," Mr. Hissrich said.

 

[Kittybunny]

So many crazy rumors but two venues were said to give out orange wristbands that night: Cake which is a small upscale LBGT club and the Rivers Casino where Paulie D of Jersey Shore was DJing a show.

Southside Works apartments are nice upscale and pretty expensive for Pittsburgh - a lot of young professionals live there.

My guess is they bought drugs (coke, crystal meth) to post-party and those had fentanyl in them.

 

[CCJD]

PITTSBURGH, PA (September 23, 2019) – A taskforce of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police detectives and federal law enforcement officials arrested a man early Monday morning in connection with drug overdoses that left three people dead in the South Side.

The investigative team identified Peter Rene Sanchez Montalvo, aka Carlos, as the individual who provided the drugs to the overdose victims.

Police responded to multiple overdoses early Sunday, Sept. 22, at an apartment complex in the South Side. Detectives from the Pittsburgh Police’s Narcotics and Vice Unit, Drug Enforcement Agency agents, and the FBI's Opioid Task Force immediately began a joint investigation.

Sanchez Montalvo was taken into custody without incident at a house in McKees Rocks 3 a.m. this morning. Criminal charges are being handled by the US Attorney's Office.

more here: Arrest Made in South Side Overdose Deaths

 

[Betty P]

PITTSBURGH, PA (September 23, 2019) – A taskforce of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police detectives and federal law enforcement officials arrested a man early Monday morning in connection with drug overdoses that left three people dead in the South Side.

The investigative team identified Peter Rene Sanchez Montalvo, aka Carlos, as the individual who provided the drugs to the overdose victims.

Police responded to multiple overdoses early Sunday, Sept. 22, at an apartment complex in the South Side. Detectives from the Pittsburgh Police’s Narcotics and Vice Unit, Drug Enforcement Agency agents, and the FBI's Opioid Task Force immediately began a joint investigation.

Sanchez Montalvo was taken into custody without incident at a house in McKees Rocks 3 a.m. this morning. Criminal charges are being handled by the US Attorney's Office.

more here: Arrest Made in South Side Overdose Deaths

Sounds like fentanyl or carfentanyl. Glad the DEA and FBI are on the case. I saw a recent news video with an FBI agent who said more fentanyl is now moving from China into Mexico where it's cut with other ingredients and sold as opioids like Oxycontin. Fentanyl is very inexpensive, so it boosts profits of drug dealers immensely. In this case, the dealer was telling victims it was cocaine.

From the link above:

Investigators confirmed that Sanchez-Montalvo was at the Insomnia Discotec in Brookline on Saturday night, where orange wristbands were distributed to patrons. All of the overdose victims wore orange wristbands.

At some point in the evening, Sanchez-Montalvo left Insomnia and went to the South Side apartment, where he had been staying. Several other individuals who were at Insomnia, including members of the band that played at the bar on Saturday night, joined him for what was described as an "after-party."

Sanchez-Montalvo distributed a white powdered substance, believed to be cocaine, to those in attendance. Shortly after, multiple people became seriously ill. Three of them died at the scene.

The dealer was living at the apartment where the deaths occurred, it sounds like others lived there, too. An exclusive drug den that catered to upscale clients in the building and neighborhood? He must have cleaned up the scene and split once he saw his clients dying from overdoses. Of course, he didn't bother to call EMS.

Looks like LE were correct in focusing on those orange wrist bands to find the source of the bad drugs.

It looks like there was a Mexican band playing there that night

FB page for the Insomnia Discotec

Insomnia Discotec

Banda Viento Alegre "Norteño Banda"

 

[Kittybunny]

Sounds like fentanyl or carfentanyl. Glad the DEA and FBI are on the case. I saw a recent news video with an FBI agent who said more fentanyl is now moving from China into Mexico where it's cut with other ingredients and sold as opioids like Oxycontin. Fentanyl is very inexpensive, so it boosts profits of drug dealers immensely. In this case, the dealer was telling victims it was cocaine.

From the link above:



The dealer was living at the apartment where the deaths occurred, it sounds like others lived there, too. An exclusive drug den that catered to upscale clients in the building and neighborhood? He must have cleaned up the scene and split once he saw his clients dying from overdoses. Of course, he didn't bother to call EMS.

Looks like LE were correct in focusing on those orange wrist bands to find the source of the bad drugs.

It looks like there was a Mexican band playing there that night

FB page for the Insomnia Discotec

Insomnia Discotec

Banda Viento Alegre "Norteño Banda"

I don't think the dealer lived there. They said the apartment was someone else's - he may have had access or a friendship with the owner and abused the privilege. In addition, he was arrested in McKees Rocks - which IS where I would expect a drug den to be. The Rocks is notorious for drug dealing. Bad bad neighborhood.

 

[Betty P]

I don't think the dealer lived there. They said the apartment was someone else's - he may have had access or a friendship with the owner and abused the privilege. In addition, he was arrested in McKees Rocks - which IS where I would expect a drug den to be. The Rocks is notorious for drug dealing. Bad bad neighborhood.

Yes, that sounds plausible. Keep in mind, however, that drug dealers (and consumers) don't always live in bad neighborhoods. Wealthy or upwardly mobile people who do drugs don't want to go into bad neighborhoods to purchase them. Dealers are everywhere, unfortunately.

 

[Tina Marie]

Gotta love the fact that someone filmed him distributing the drug on a knife and people snorting the drug. I mean how smart of a criminal are you to be videotaped doing something illegal? No doubt had a great impact on getting him swiftly apprehended. I’m curious if anyone there called once people started getting sick or did they just abandoned ship? Guess I would like to believe that someone called for help. LE gone very silent last 2 days, suspect they are running up the drug supply chain.

 

[Betty P]

Gotta love the fact that someone filmed him distributing the drug on a knife and people snorting the drug. I mean how smart of a criminal are you to be videotaped doing something illegal? No doubt had a great impact on getting him swiftly apprehended. I’m curious if anyone there called once people started getting sick or did they just abandoned ship? Guess I would like to believe that someone called for help. LE gone very silent last 2 days, suspect they are running up the drug supply chain.

Agree, really dumb criminals but a break for police. Sounds like people put all kinds of crazy stuff on social media these days. From news accounts, it doesn't sound like anyone called EMS. Police were first alerted, IIRC, when someone saw one of the victims needing help out on the street.

Peter Rene Sanchez Montalvo has been arrested

Man charged after 3 dead, 4 hospitalized following drug overdoses in South Side

Apparently the person who rented the apartment was sub-leasing it without the knowledge of management. Residents are concerned that this drug dealer was allowed to live there. Can't say I blame them. Fentanyl is extremely potent. If any of it had been dropped or spread around a public area (elevator buttons, door knobs) , others could be poisoned.

ETA: This sounds so shady...

Law enforcement interviewed the person who legally leased the apartment, who stated that they do not live there and do not have a key to the apartment. According to the complaint, that person said they were only renting the apartment as part of a deal brokered for two Hispanic males in exchange for $500 in compensation. According to the complaint, “renting apartments in other people’s names is a common tactic used by individuals involved in drug trafficking in an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement.”