WILTON MANORS, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have arrested a man one day after a bad batch of cocaine sent to the hospital seven West Point cadets who are in Wilton Manors for spring break, officials said.
Wilton Manors Police on Friday confirmed the arrest, hours after officials with West Point announced they will investigate Thursday’s overdoses.
The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Axel Giovany Casseus.
Friday night, the Airbnb in Wilton Manors where, police said, seven West Point Cadets overdosed was empty and quiet.
“We view our military at a much higher standard, and it was just completely heartbreaking,” said Cub Larkin, who lives nearby.
A day earlier, it’s where those military students were fighting for their lives after overdosing on cocaine laced with fentanyl, a painkiller up to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
“I saw four people getting pulled out on stretchers, their arms were just flopping. They were totally unconscious,” said Cub Larkin.
First responders said the students were in South Florida from New York on spring break and staying at the rental property, located along Northwest 29th Court and Ninth Avenue.
“We’ve been hearing over the last couple of days, loud music, gatherings,” said Larkin.
“It was guys and girls over there. They seemed to be having a good time. They were barbecuing, they were in the pool,” said Dana Fumosa, who lives next door to the Airbnb.
Neighbors said it was a house full of people when, at some point, some of the students began inhaling the drugs and immediately overdosed.
Concerned friends performed mouth to mouth CPR, exposing themselves to the dangerous cocktail.
Some of the students are allegedly on the West Point football team.
Officials with West Point told 7News they are aware of the incident and are conducting their own investigation.
Casseus, meanwhile, appeared in bond court Saturday morning.
A total of seven people were taken to the hospital, and as of late Friday night, three of them were still there. Two of them are listed in critical condition, and one of them is listed in stable condition.
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