A 13-year-old Connecticut boy who died after overdosing on fentanyl at school had about 100 bags of the powerful synthetic opioid in his bedroom, police said.
Cops in Hartford found the potent drugs while executing a search warrant at the home of the seventh-grader on Jan. 13 after he overdosed earlier that day, department officials said in a statement Tuesday.
“This fentanyl was packaged in the same manner as the bags located at the school, had the same identifying stamp and tested at an even higher purity level [60%],” Hartford police said. “We can confidently say that the fentanyl that caused the overdose was the same fentanyl that was located in the juvenile’s bedroom.”
The boy, who has not been publicly identified due to his age, died on Jan. 15, two days after collapsing in the gymnasium at the Sports and Medical Science Academy in Hartford.
There’s no evidence anyone else brought the roughly 40 small bags of fentanyl to the school, police said. Investigators found the drugs stashed in two classrooms and the gym. An investigation into how the boy got hold of the fentanyl remains ongoing.
Hartford police will take custody of the fentanyl from federal authorities to conduct additional testing, including fingerprint and DNA analysis to hopefully find out where the dead boy acquired the drugs.
A person of interest with links to the boy’s residence and a “narcotics history” has been identified, but investigators stopped short of calling the unnamed individual a suspect in Tuesday’s statement.
No arrests have been made as of Wednesday, Hartford police Lt. Aaron Boisvert told The Post.
The teen’s mother, meanwhile, is cooperating with investigators, police said.
“At this time, we have no evidence to support her having any prior knowledge of her son’s possession of the fentanyl,” Hartford police said.
The school was evacuated after the fentanyl was discovered and then closed the following day. Two other male students said they were dizzy after they came into contact with the drug at the same time as the boy who ingested it overdosed, police said. They were treated and released from a hospital two days later.