SAN JOSE, Calif. — A 16-year-old is charged with murder after a 12-year-old girl died of an overdose.
The teen was arrested Tuesday in Santa Clara, California.
The Santa Clara County district attorney’s office said the 12-year-old died after taking three-quarters of a single “M-30” pill containing fentanyl.
The 16-year-old reportedly sold the pill to the girl in 2020.
The district attorney’s office said the 12-year-old passed out and began snoring, a “telltale sign of a fentanyl overdose.”
The girl died shortly after being taken to the Regional Medical Center in San Jose.
The 16-year-old was arrested Tuesday and is incarcerated.
The office said this is the second time they have charged a drug dealer with murder in connection to an overdose death.
A man was charged with murder after selling an 18-year-old girl an opioid over Snapchat in 2020.
The CDC reports that fentanyl can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
Fentanyl is one of the most common drugs involved in overdose deaths, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
More than 150 people die each day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
