DENVER (KDVR) — The fentanyl epidemic in Colorado is hitting close to home for a local pastor planning vigils for the five people found dead in a Commerce City apartment Sunday.

While shoveling sidewalks and clearing paths at churches across the community Thursday, He Said Ministries Pastor Matthew Chaves had a lot weighing on his mind and heart.

“Just in the last couple of weeks, we’ve lost four members of our community, our church, and also my actual family,” Chaves said. 

Chaves told FOX31 one of his cousins died of an overdose from a drug laced with fentanyl.

“And then on my way to the candle vigil, my mom gets a call saying that three more died and that is what everybody has seen on the news,” Chaves said. 

Chaves said one of the five adults found dead Sunday was another one of his cousins. Two of the other adults were his cousins’ spouses.

Autopsies have not yet revealed the confirmed cause of their deaths, but investigators believe cocaine laced with fentanyl killed them.

“So, to think that you’re above this is wrong, this could happen to anybody in any family,” Chaves said. “Just in these past two years, I’ve probably buried 10 to 15 friends and family members and I’ve probably done over 30 to 50 candle vigils for family members of addiction or gang violence.”

For each victim and vigil, Chaves provides support and prayer to the grieving loved ones left behind. However, he said the community needs to do more to stop these overdoses from occurring altogether by supporting those struggling with drug use.

“As leaders in the community pastors, and we need to hold our community accountable,” Chaves said. “We need to hold government officials accountable.”

Chaves and pastors from churches across the Denver community are coming together Friday evening around 7 p.m. at He Said Ministries on 65th Avenue for a prayer night. He said they plan to address this epidemic and what they can do to help.