GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Funeral donations added up this weekend for Julia Zirangua, who was just 17 years old when she died after police say she took a counterfeit Percocet.
“I can sympathize with this family you know my family can sympathize with this family and they have my heartfelt condolences,” father Tony McDonald said.
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McDonald spoke to Channel 2 Action News on video chat because he’s been through this too.
His son, Jordan died the same way police say Zirangua did a year and a half ago. He took what he thought was Percocet but it was actually fentanyl. He was 18.
“My son had just started working. He bought Percocet because he got a job working nights he just graduated Jonesboro high and, he couldn’t sleep. Then, he ingested it and he never work up again,” McDonald said.
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In Zirangua’s case, police arrested two people for selling her the laced drug –Drolvin Calix Rodriguez and Elizabeth Elliott, a move McDonald said may have saved lives.
“You don’t know where else this could have went, who else they could have harmed, what parent would go through this or what child would end up dying or dead,” McDonald said.
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While Zirangua’s case is grabbing attention of parents – McDonald sends this message:
“If I could stand on a mountaintop and talk to any child in here 8, 9,10 or higher and say, ‘hey don’t take these pills don’t buy this stuff from anybody you don’t know what you’re’ getting a hold of.’”
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