PLYMOUTH -- The murders of three young people in Plymouth have caused some officials in Luzerne County to try to raise awareness of the drug problem in the area.
Police said the suspects shot four people, killing three of them, Saturday night in Plymouth during a drug deal.
Police say Shawn Hamilton, 18, and Sawud Davis, 16, killed three people and left a fourth critically injured during the weekend shooting in Plymouth. According to police Hamilton and Davis had gone to the apartment on First Street to buy drugs. The dead include a 21 year old, a 17 year old, and a 15 year old.
Carmen Ambrosino, the head of the Wyoming Valley Drug and Alcohol center, said 90% of the crime in Luzerne County is drug related. He stresses that it's important for parents to talk to their children about drugs at an early age.
"If your children are hanging around with unhealthy playmates, they will be introduced to unhealthy playpens and they will be using unhealthy play things," said Ambrosino.
We spoke with some parents outside a grocery store in Wyoming. They said drug education in schools isn`t enough. It begins at home.
"The parents are going to want to sit home with them explain to them the bad things that drugs do what the future holds if they participate in that kind of behavior," said Michaelene Thomas of Swoyersville.
"Be involved in your children`s lives. Know who their friends are. Know where they are. Set rules and guidelines," said Don Wilce of Swoyersville.
Wilce spent several years working as a child probation officer in Florida. He said he`s seen too many young lives ruined by drugs.
"Watching moms and dads crying in courtrooms seeing these kids being let off over drugs and gangs what have you, tears the families apart, it tears the communities apart," added Wilce.
"I really hope this community is really becoming sick and tired of being sick and tired of its drug problem," said Ambrosino.
Hamilton and Davis are both locked up and are scheduled to have a hearing on the homicide charges later in July.