10-Year-Old In Florida Dies From Heroin And Fentanyl In His System

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Florida Child Dead With Heroin And Fentanyl In His System

A 10-year-old boy in Florida is the latest and one of the youngest to die from our nationwide drug epidemic. The boy, Alton Banks, began vomiting after a trip to the public pool late in June. He was later found unconscious, and though he was rushed to a hospital, he was then pronounced dead.

The exact circumstances for the child’s death are still unknown, but preliminary toxicology reports show that he had both heroin and fentanyl in his system–according to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, this combination is lethal, and has taken many lives across the country. Investigators do not suspect that Banks was exposed to these drugs at home, leading them to question how this tragedy happened.

In Florida, 3,228 people died from overdoses in 2015, a nearly 23 percent increase from the previous year. Because the case is still being investigated, Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office could not make any comment.