Four people were found dead on skid row Monday, a toll that shocked even veteran police and social workers who are used to seeing routine misfortune.
None of the dead appeared to have been the victims of foul play. Three of the deaths were suspected to be the results of overdoses; the fourth victim wore a hospital band on one of his wrists and may have died of complications from stomach cancer.
The overdose deaths prompted police to warn skid row health agencies about the possibility of a particularly dangerous batch of heroin that might be making its way through the community.
Capt. Andrew Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division said the deaths were the most that he could remember in one day on skid row — an area that is notorious for drug use and homelessness and where the LAPD says suburban law enforcement agencies and some hospitals have routinely dumped homeless people, criminals and drug addicts.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-skidrow21dec21,0,896799.story?coll=la-home-headlines