SEATTLE — As King County announces a major drug bust, evidence is mounting that the victims of fentanyl are getting younger.
Now a 16-month-old Shoreline girl may have died in June due to fentanyl exposure. King County Sheriff’s deputies were called to her house here in Shoreline on June 15th. And they found a toddler, unresponsive.
The Shoreline Police say they and the King County Medical Examiner are investigating whether she was exposed to fentanyl.
“Potentially it was fentanyl-related, yes,” said Chief Kelly Park.
Now the epidemic is hitting the youngest among us.
“This is something our officers are going out on a daily basis and administering Narcan to our youths, to our adults, and to everyone in between,” Chief Park said. “This is a very bad situation.”
That grim toll may include 16-month-old Xhendaya Johnson. Shoreline police tell us she died on June 15. A friend posted this GoFundMe account, saying only that the little girl died suddenly; that the family needed money for her funeral.
But it is not unheard of. The King County Prosecutor says last year 25 people under the age of 20 died from drug abuse, the vast majority linked to fentanyl. And yes, prosecutors have seen toddlers, too.
Just this week, the King County Medical Examiner reported nine-year-old Isaiah Cole - may have died from acute drug intoxication from fentanyl inside a house on Military Road South in Kent. And the same day, on 242nd Place in Kent, 15-year-old India Henderson was found dead, likely exposed to fentanyl and methamphetamine, precious lives lost.
“We’re talking about kids who may be in sports,” said King County Undersheriff Jesse Anderson, “actively involved in schools, on the course of having very productive lives. Just like that, they’re gone.”
The Undersheriff says ingesting a single fentanyl pill can be deadly.
He says they know the pills taken off the street last week won’t end the epidemic. That won’t happen, he says, until the demand drops.