DUBLIN, Calif. (BCN/KRON) – Dublin police said fentanyl was found at the school library where two missing janitors were located on Wednesday morning. One of them was dead.
James Covington died at the school and his fiancé Shameka Wilbon is recovering at the hospital.
Police said the two were both collapsed at the library at Fallon Middle School.
Officers had gone to the school at 3601 Kohnen Way about 7 a.m. after it was reported that neither had returned home from their janitorial shift at the school on Tuesday.
Officers found their vehicle parked at the rear of the school and conducted a search of the campus, finding the 32-year-old man and 29-year-old woman in the library, both suffering from unknown medical issues, police said.
The pair were carried out to the school courtyard and the Alameda County Fire Department and ambulance crews were called to provide treatment, but the man was pronounced at the scene. The woman was hospitalized for treatment.
On entering the library, officers had noticed a chemical smell and called the county fire department’s Hazardous Material Support Unit to determine if there was any danger.
PG&E was called out to see if there was a gas leak. There was no evidence of that.
“After an extensive search of the school, no hazardous chemicals or materials were located and the school was deemed safe for reentry,” police said.
Dublin police say they found fentanyl on the scene after the fire department’s hazmat team declared there was no known chemicals there that could have caused illnesses of both janitors.
But James Covington’s mother Tamara doesn’t believe it.
She told KRON4’s Sara Stinson that she doesn’t think it was drugs that killed her son, but instead some kind of chemical.
The Dublin Unified School District released a statement in part saying:
“It is with great sadness that I must inform you that the Dublin Unified School District lost a member of its family earlier today. What I can tell you now is that one of our Fallon Middle School team passed away on campus. Another one of our team members was taken to a local hospital for treatment. While we are not in a position to release their names or provide additional details, we can confirm they were part of our site custodial team.
Our deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of our lost colleague and also to the students, staff and community of Fallon Middle School. No matter how strong the Fallon Mustang family is, losing a family member at any time is tragic, but during this time of year, it is devastating.”