WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas — Law enforcement officials in Williamson County have seen an unsettling spike in fentanyl poisonings, with a staggering five fentanyl poisonings occurring in just one week.
Sgt. Heather Vargas with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) says deputies have seen two deaths in these five incidents.
One of those victims was 16-year-old Zarek McMeekin.
"He was laying down, you know, just covered a little bit in his blanket, and he had already passed," said Martha Ledezma, Zarek's mother.
The Leander High School junior passed away on Saturday. His parents said when they found his body, they had a gut feeling of what might've happened.
"I reached out to somebody and asked, and they said that he had taken fentanyl," said Ledezma.
In some poisoning cases, people may not know they're taking fentanyl at all. Stefanie Turner's son passed away after he took a pill he got from social media.
Turner said what Williamson County has seen in the last week is a brutal reminder of the drug's presence.
"When we're hearing five cases and that is an uptick in what we're seeing, the reality is this is happening day in and day out," said Turner.
Easy access to the drug is something Zarek's family feared, as well.
"There's so much out there that's going on. And then social media is just easy access to everything and anything out there," said Ledezma.
"To buy any kind of illicit drug off the street is a gamble with your life. If you are buying any kind of pill, or narcotic off the street it will more likely then not have fentanyl in it," said Vargas.
"I always say the drug demographic has completely changed [from] what we once knew drugs to be. They are no longer ... they are laced with a poison substance," said Turner.
Each believes that tragedies like these don't go away if they aren't discussed.