16-year-old boy dies of overdose; Petaluma police suspect fentanyl

PETALUMA, Calif. - A 16-year-old boy has died of a drug overdose and Petaluma police suspect he had taken fentanyl.

Lt. Tim Lyons said that officers and firefighters were called out Tuesday about 7 a.m. to the 300 block of Wilson Street.  

Inside, paramedics found that the teen was dead. A family member and friend were there too.

An autopsy was conducted on Wednesday and an initial cause of death appeared to have been overdose-related, Lyons said. While the toxicology reports have not come back yet, Lyons said police believe the drugs in the boy's system was fentanyl. 

There were narcotics paraphernalia found near the boy when detective arrived, Lyons said.

There have been at least 41 overdose related calls and 19 overdose related deaths since Jan. 1 in Petaluma, Lyons said. He added that the actual number is presumably much higher, as some overdose patients go directly to a hospital without police knowledge. 

Petaluma PD officers have been equipped with Narcan, a medication used to block the effects of opioids since 2018 and have administered it several times a year to subjects they have encountered who have overdosed. 

If anyone has any information about this incident, please call Detective Zeus Rivera at 707-778-4444.