LOCAL NEWS Accidental fentanyl overdose investigated in 13-year-old’s death

By MARISSA ARMAS

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    AURORA, Colorado (KCNC) — Fighting back tears, Margarita Flores-Velasquez describes how she found her 13-year-old grandson Jose Hernandez hunched over on the bathroom sink early Wednesday morning.

“I’m shattered, I’m hurt, I’ve cried like you could never imagine,” Flores-Velasquez told CBS4. “I said ‘Jose, Jose,’… I tried moving him. He was limp, cold, his mouth and fingers were purple.”

Jose had just started the 8th grade at Aurora Hills Middle School on Tuesday. Less than a day later, the family says Jose was found dead from an accidental fentanyl overdose. They say he took drugs he received from another kid at school.

“He seemed OK,” his uncle Abisaid Hernandez said. “There was no history of him doing any types of drugs or anything like that. I think it was just the crowd he decided to hang out with, and maybe them thinking it was good to tell him ‘hey maybe try this out.'”

Jose enjoyed skateboarding. He was a big brother to two younger siblings. He dreamed of becoming a homeowner and opening his own business one day.

“We would stay with them, change their diapers, they are like my little babies,” Hernandez said. “It really, really hurts to lose him. He had his life ahead of him. He had all these amazing ideas.”

In the Aurora home the family shares, now sits an alter honoring the young boy.

“I just want him to be remembered as a lovely, happy kid with a big smile. He had a playful personality,” Flores-Velasquez said.

The family hopes Jose’s life and now death serves as a warning to others to stay away from the lethal drug.

“Be with your kids, keep an eye on them, give them love, cause that’s what they need,” Hernandez said.

Aurora police say this case is still an open and active investigation. The mother of the boy lives in Mexico and is trying to get a temporary visa to come for Jose’s funeral. The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with funeral expenses.

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