Kim Ellis walked alongside her daughter and granddaughter Saturday morning, joining dozen of other people carrying photos of their loved ones lost to fentanyl-related deaths. In her hands was a photo of her son, Deven, 32 years old, gone since November 2021.
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“He was the best uncle to his nieces and nephews, he was the fun uncle. And him and my other son were best friends,” Ellis said. “For any family in a situation like this, it’s just so hard.”
A few feet away, Milli Militi wore a shirt bearing the Fentanyl United Crisis Coalition’s angry, unmistakable logo — a striking visage of someone crying out in grief. She said the design mirrors exactly how she felt the day fentanyl took her 20-year-old son.
“My son, like I’m sure so many of you who’ve lost somebody, was everything to me,” Militi said. “It destroyed my family, destroyed my heart.”
Ellis and Militi were two out of dozens of family members who gathered at the San Diego Imperial High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area facility for the local iteration of Walk for Lives 2026 — one of more than 100 family-led events held simultaneously across all 50 states Saturday in support of the DEA’s Fentanyl Free America initiative.
The event paired a one-mile walk with family testimonials, expert presentations and a resource fair connecting attendees to prevention education, recovery support and grief counseling.
“It takes extraordinary courage to transform that grief into action, and that action is lasting change, and that’s what you’re doing,” James Nunnallee, special agent in charge of the DEA’s San Diego and Imperial County office said, adding that prevention professionals are essential partners in the effort.
“There are not enough handcuffs for us to solve this problem.”
Adam Gordon, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, described a shift from what he called the “dark days” in 2022 and 2023, when San Diego County recorded about 814 overdose deaths annually. He said preliminary numbers show significant improvement ahead of the county’s official statistics, expected Aug. 31.
“Things weren’t great and we thought the death rate was just going to keep going up and up and up,” Gordon said. “But now, things are changing.”
Gordon credited increased border security with a 20% to 40% reduction in fentanyl entering the country, along with prosecutions of high-level cartel figures. He said five Sinaloa cartel leaders designated as narco-terrorists are currently jailed in San Diego, and that the Southern District leads the nation in narco-terrorism prosecutions.
People carry posters displaying photographs of victims who lost their lives to a fentanyl overdose during the Walk for Lives event in Kearny Mesa on Saturday. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Cindy Parente and Caroline Walker carry posters of their children, Samuel Parente, 18, and Cassie Walker, 38, who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2021 and 2022, respectively, during the Walk for Lives event. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Caroline Walker and Cindy Parente wear shirts of their children, Cassie Walker, 38, and Samuel Parente, 18, who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2022 and 2021, respectively, during the Walk for Lives event in Kearny Mesa on Saturday.( Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Walk for Lives event Participants carry posters displaying photographs of victims who lost their lives to a fentanyl overdose. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A county report released in August 2025 by the San Diego County Substance Use and Overdose Prevention Taskforce found overdose deaths dropped from 1,203 in 2023 to 945 in 2024, a 21% decline, though the rate remains more than double what it was in 2015.
The same report found methamphetamine deaths outpaced fentanyl deaths in 2024 for the first time in recent years, and that people experiencing homelessness accounted for roughly 30% of the county’s overdose fatalities.
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Nunnallee said DEA San Diego has seized more than 13 million deadly doses of fentanyl since the start of 2026. He also pointed to declining potency in seized pills as an encouraging sign.
“We’re starting to see the amount of fentanyl on those pills decreasing for the first time,” he said, calling it evidence of disruption in the drug supply chain.
Militi, founder of the Fentanyl United Crisis Coalition, said she has used her personal tragedy to promote awareness about the dangers of fentanyl — speaking to parents and teenagers from Seattle to San Diego about prevention and crisis intervention.
“I use my son’s spirit as a sort of conduit,” she said.
Militi said her son had been sober for six months, had a new job and was excited about his future when he died after unknowingly taking a counterfeit pill. She said the batch killed roughly 20 people in Seattle that week.
“The thing about fentanyl is it doesn’t allow people to make mistakes,” she said. “You can’t mess up.”
Ellis attended the walk with her daughter, Shawna Nunez, and granddaughter, Samantha Nunez, in memory of her son Deven who died of a fentanyl overdose after having previously been 10 months sober.
“He was struggling with mental health, with depression,” Ellis said, explaining the stigma of people suffering from addiction can be harmful for spreading awareness and encouraging prevention. She added that events like Walk for Lives offer something rare — a chance to compare experiences with others who understand the loss, rather than carry it alone.
Nunez said attending her first Walk for Lives since her brother’s death motivated her to get more involved.
“It makes me want to advocate more with (my mother) and be at more of these events to spread more awareness,” she said.
As the event drew to a close, Ellis offered a message to families still struggling to reach loved ones battling addiction.
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“Don’t give up on your kids,” Ellis said. “Don’t keep quiet.”
