Several hundred people gathered at the Atascadero community center Saturday night for An Evening of Aloha.
It was a fundraiser to celebrate the life of Emilio Velci who died after ingesting fentanyl. District attorney Dan Dow was scheduled to speak, but he was called away from the community center on an emergency call. He was there briefly, but assistant district attorney Eric Dobroth took his place as speaker.
The money raised from the event goes to scholarships at Atascadero and Paloma high schools and the Atascadero teen center.
Meanwhile, the man who sold 19-year-old Emilio Velci the fentanyl is facing second degree murder charges.
They worked together at a Paso Robles restaurant. Emilio had a toothache, and the dishwasher sold him what he said was a pharmaceutical Percocet. It turned out to be a fatal dose of fentanyl off the street, probably smuggled from Mexico.
