Tragic news broke from Santa Rosa Sunday night, as two separate overdose incidents took the lives of two high school students and hospitalized two others, and a suspected fentanyl dealer has been arrested.

We knew there was going to be bad news coming out of Santa Rosa, when word broke Sunday night that Santa Rosa City Schools [SRCS] had sent a 6:35 pm communication to parents saying that four students had died, and two of those deaths were apparent drug overdoses.

By 11:30 Sunday night, KTVU had the more specific details that four district high school students had overdosed, and two of them died. While there were two other deaths, the Santa Rosa Police Department clarified in a 9:12 pm Sunday night press release that “The third [death] is a 19-year-old male and former SRCS student, and though drugs are suspected in his death, it is unlikely to be related to this overdose death. The fourth student is a 21-year-old male, who is believed to have passed away from natural causes.”

Bay City News describes two fatal overdoses that were discovered around 8 pm Saturday night. An acquaintance of the students arrived at a home on the 2100 block of Brookwood Drive, and there was no answer at the door. The acquaintance entered the home and found a 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy unresponsive, and called 911. Authorities responded, but the two were both declared dead at the scene.

According to the Bay Area News Group, the 16-year-old girl had attended Santa Rosa High School, and the 18-year-old young man attended Montgomery High School, which is also in Santa Rosa.

KTVU spoke with a Montgomery High senior named Chloe Sinn, who said of the male victim, "He was a great, intelligent person," and added, "I had friends who were friends, and we're all really devastated about it." That station reports a sign outside Montgomery High said "Long Live Logan," and KRON4’s Will Tran notes above that a sign placed outside Santa Rosa High says “Long Live Gia.”

The Santa Rosa Police Department press release adds that while investigating the two fatal overdoses, “detectives located evidence of narcotics use at the scene and information about the identity of a suspected narcotics dealer.” That bit about “the identity of a suspected narcotics dealer” may prove significant.

Because the other two overdoses happened Saturday morning at around 5:15 am, in this case the victims being two girls ages 14 and 16. There is little information about the location, or what schools they attended. But police suspect the two may be related, and in both separate overdose cases, police also suspect that the kids bought what they thought was cocaine, but "was most likely fentanyl."

And police believe they have their suspect. Their release adds that they arrested 21-year-old Santa Rosa resident Ramon Nunez at around 12:45 pm Sunday afternoon outside some business on the 1900 block of Santa Rosa Avenue. And in searching Nunez’s vehicle, police add that "detectives located narcotics and other items indicative of narcotic sales,” plus "small plastic baggies containing a distinctive black peace sign logo believed to be linked to the overdose deaths of the two teenagers."

It is unclear if that black peace sign logo was also spotted at the site of the two younger teens’ overdoses.

Either way, Nunez is being held without bail on two counts of second-degree homicide, plus additional charges of furnishing narcotics to minors.

Related: 23-Year-Old San Jose Man Gets 12 Years For Selling Fentanyl-Laced Pills to Los Gatos High Schoolers [SFist]

Image: Wulfnoth via Wikimedia Commons