California teen charged with murder for 12-year-old girl’s fentanyl overdose death

A 16-year-old accused drug dealer has been charged with murder after a 12-year-old girl he allegedly sold to died of a fentanyl overdose.

The young girl, who has not been publicly identified, bought an “M-30″ pill from the suspect on Nov. 12, 2020, and was recorded crushing it up and snorting about three-quarters of it, according to the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office.

She quickly passed out and began snoring, a sign of fentanyl overdose.

The girl was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead.

She was the youngest fatal drug overdose in Santa Clara County in 2020, according to officials.

“After thousands of deaths, everyone should know that fentanyl is a deadly poison,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.

“Thanks to the San Jose Police Department, the Santa Clara County Specialized Enforcement Team and our investigators, this child’s tragically short life may help save others.”

More than 100,000 people died from a drug overdose between April 2020 to April 2021, according to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November. Of those deaths, almost two-thirds were caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl.