On Thursday, Oct. 17, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported that seventeen middle school students in Southern California received treatment after eating gummy bears that were laced with an unknown substance.
A nurse at Walter Reed Middle School dialed 911 at approximately 10:29 a.m. on Thursday after multiple students aged 12 to 13 exhibited symptoms consistent with an overdose, including nausea, vomiting, lethargy, and anxiety, according to LAFD Captain Erik Scott. Emergency personnel reached the school by 11 a.m.
Scott reported that there is no proof of fentanyl in the substances, and mentions that an investigation is in progress “to determine exactly what that was, if it was THC [or] CBD.”
“The students had stated that they did ingest something that was in the shape of a gummy bear,” he added.
Scott reported that there were 35 firefighters present, along with five ambulances and two advanced providers, who were nurse practitioners that thoroughly assessed all 17 students.
Two students were taken to a nearby hospital. According to LAFD representative Margaret Stewart, the other 15 were sent “on the scene to either the school or their parents.” All the impacted children experienced no severe symptoms but reported feelings of overall tiredness and lack of strength.
A parent of a Walter Reed student shares that helicopters were seen flying over the middle school. A mother, wishing to remain anonymous, shares her reasoning for driving to the location “because there have been two shooter lockdowns in the last few months.” While on her way, she got an email from another parent stating that children had consumed a substance, paramedics were on the scene, and it was evolving into a crime scene.
Once she arrived, there were nine ambulances, news crews, and “a number of cops.” She was unsure if her child had taken the substance. “I saw three different children on stretchers, and each one was holding a plastic basin, and they were throwing up. I saw it up close,” she says. “The kids looked so scared and it was just so sad.”
“I observed that the paramedics appeared quite composed, leading me to think it wasn’t fentanyl, but we were in the dark,” she remarks, mentioning that around 100 parents came to pick up their children from school.
“After I knew my son was safe, I then thought about all the kids looking out the windows, while trying to study and learn, seeing a barrage of emergency vehicles and sick, scared kids and how that is a trauma in and of itself,” she says. The mother notes that they “closed down a portion of the school and declared it a crime scene.”
“I did notice the paramedics seemed pretty calm, so I assumed it wasn’t fentanyl, but we had no idea,” she notes, adding that about 100 parents arrived to remove their kids from school.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Unified School District provided a statement from principal Paul De Bonis, confirming the district’s collaboration with the Los Angeles School Police Department and local health partners.
The representative encouraged parents to discuss substance abuse and its harmful effects with their children, noting that the school offers mental health resources, including counseling support, for students affected by this incident.