Police Still Investigating Multiple Overdoses, Fourth Victim Dies

Pasadena police are still looking into multiple drug-related incidents that left four people dead after seven separate incidents of suspected fentanyl overdoses on Friday and Saturday.

“Detectives are still investigating to determine if there is a link,” said Pasadena Police Lt. Bill Grisafe.

The victims were all men who ranged in age from their 30s to their 60s. Two of them died at hospitals, Grisafe said. Another was pronounced dead at the scene.

Another of the overdose victims was in grave condition for days before succumbing, according to Grisafe.

The other three patients were not expected to be hospitalized long term. At least two of them had been revived by paramedics or medial staff using the anti-opioid overdose nasal spray known as Narcan, or naloxone.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but some experts say could be 50 to 100 times more potent.

Fentanyl is a prescription drug, but due to its potency, it is also made and used illegally.

Like morphine, it is a medicine that is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, especially after surgery.

The drug is also sometimes used to treat patients with chronic pain who are physically tolerant to other opioids.

Suspected fentanyl overdoses are not common in the city, and Grisafe described Friday’s wave of overdoses as “an anomaly.”

A police official Sunday morning said there were no similar incidents overnight.