After a 13-year-old boy died from a fentanyl overdose at a Connecticut middle school, Hartford Police said Tuesday they found an extra 100 bags of fentanyl in the teenager’s room.
Police found 40 bags of fentanyl at the Sports and Medical Science Academy in Hartford, Connecticut, on Jan. 13 after the teenage student collapsed in the school gymnasium. Two other students were taken to a local hospital while the school was placed on a soft lockdown.
Authorities believe the drugs were brought to the school by the 13-year-old, and that all three students likely came in contact with the fentanyl at the same time.
The 13-year-old, whose name has not been released because of his age, died on Jan. 16 after being revived by emergency responders after overdosing. The other two students were later released from the hospital.
Hartford Police said they found an extra 100 bags of fentanyl in the teen’s bedroom, and “can confidently say that the fentanyl that caused the overdose was the same fentanyl that was located in the juvenile’s bedroom.”
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The drugs from the school and home were packaged in the same manner, had the same stamp, and tested at similar “extremely high” purity levels — the fentanyl from the school tested at 58% purity, and the fentanyl found in the boy’s room tested at 60%, according to a Hartford Police news release.
Police say they believe the teen was the only one to bring the drugs to school and are still investigating how he came in possession of them.
A person of interest has been identified in the case, authorities said, although he hasn’t been labeled as a suspect. According to police, the person of interest has a history at the boy’s residence and with narcotics.
Police said that the teen’s mother has been fully cooperative with the investigation and do not believe she had prior knowledge of her son’s possession of fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid, stronger than drugs like heroin and morphine. The drug, which has been linked to notable deaths from singer Prince to “The Wire’s” Michael K. Williams, has become the leading cause of overdose deaths in America along with other synthetic opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says a fatal dose of fentanyl is small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil.
Contributing: Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY
