Huge update after NINE die from horror poisoning as police announce charges

COPS hopes to face murder charges after nine people die in a horror poisoning in Florida.

The victims, aged between 34 and 67, were found dead in Gadsden County over the July 4th bank holiday weekend.

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Officials said the unprecedented spike in drug overdoses caused four cardiac arrests and six intubations, Tallahassee Democrat reports.

Two women were found dead in an apartment last Friday and police officers said a passenger died in a car crash after the driver passed out from drug use.

Cases have been reported in the Florida areas of Havana, Gretna, Quincy and Chattahoochee.

Police believe the victims died of fentanyl poisoning and are now trying to trace the source of the laced drugs.

Fentanyl can be 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin – and dealers mix it with other illegal drugs to increase their addiction.

In a major update on the tragic deaths, Young told WFLX, “We hope to turn these cases into homicides.”

He believes the deadly drugs arrived in the county pre-packaged – meaning local dealers may not have known they were selling fentanyl.

He added: “It rocked the whole community. I feel her pain

“I’m really treating this like a hurricane is coming to town.

“It means so much to me that we were able to lose people in such a short time.”

Young said one of the men treated for an overdose on Friday was discharged from a hospital on Sunday – only to return on Tuesday after another overdose.

He said: “That’s the scary part. These people, despite the fear of the fentanyl and the fear that they might die, will still take a risk going out there and getting these drugs.

“These are some of the addicts who are really, really addicted.”

County commission chairman Ron Green said one of the victims of the mass poisoning was a woman in her 60s – and her children had no idea she was taking opioids.

Green said, “They didn’t even realize their mother went back to drugs. This brought them alarming news.

“Unfortunately it’s too late.”

Three months ago, the US Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert on what it called “mass overdose events.”

Jennifer Travieso of DISC Village, a non-profit drug treatment center, said: “In these last six months I’ve seen the most overdoses I’ve ever seen since I’ve been working here.

“It’s definitely fentanyl and it’s in drugs that we wouldn’t expect to be in, like cocaine or marijuana or methamphetamine.”