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Fentanyl dealers increasingly facing homicide charges over overdose deaths
As the fentanyl crisis continues across the country, a new task force in Los Angeles is holding dealers accountable —not for selling drugs, but for murder.
As Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Bobby Dean explains, fentanyl provides an “extremely potent high, it is dirt cheap and it is incredibly easy to get.”
He also warned, “It’s a hundred times more powerful than morphine. And it will kill you in an instant if you get a bad batch.”
Dean leads the task force that investigates fentanyl deaths in Los Angeles County with the aim of bringing charges against dealers.
“They are absolutely approached like a homicide,” he told CBS News. “It is a death investigation.”
In Los Angeles County, the sheriff’s department investigates hundreds of fentanyl deaths a year. Sheriff Robert Luna said the goal is to have dealers face homicide charges, a growing strategy nationwide.
“What is the difference between somebody who stabs you or shoots you or is selling you pills that highly likely will kill you?” Luna said.
In 2023, sheriff’s deputies in LA County seized more than 3,000,000 fentanyl pills — 300,000 more than in 2022.
In an undercover street buy, deputies brought back a baggie with about 10 pills disguised as prescription pain medication inside. It cost $80, and the deputies say the bag contained enough fentanyl to kill up to 20 people.
One of the task force’s cases is the death of Jax Markley, who died of fentanyl poisoning in 2022 at the age of 18.
Jax’s mother, Daisy Markley, told CBS News she found her child “slumped over on the bed” in his room.
“I just screamed for my husband,” she said.
Asked if he wanted to find the people who provided drugs to his son, Matt Markley told CBS News, “I wanted nothing less than to burn this person’s world down.”
“They know damn well how deadly these things are,” he added.
Detectives arrested the person who allegedly gave Jax Markley the fatal fentanyl. She’s awaiting trial in federal court.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.