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Police: Suspected fentanyl and coke found after Capitol Hill apartment death

The King County Medical Examiner has identified a man who died in a Capitol Hill apartment where police found suspected fentanyl and cocaine Wednesday night as James Wilson. Seattle Police say the victim was also one of two men treated by medics in a double fentanyl overdose at a Capitol Hill bar in an incident reported on by CHS in late March.

Seattle Fire tells CHS responding units found the 29-year-old in cardiac arrest inside the E John apartment Wednesday night just before 9 PM and performed CPR. “Unfortunately our efforts were not successful and [the patient] expired,” a Seattle Fire spokesperson said.

Wilson was part of a double overdose at Purr Saturday March 25th that played out in front of a packed bar as emergency responders rushed to save the men’s lives. The incident gained added attention when one of the men involved in the overdose told CHS he believed he and his fiance had been intentionally targeted and drugged.

Wednesday night, police say they found white powder near the victim and “a bag of a white powdery substance was located in in plain view in the bedroom.” One of the responding officers said “he believed the white powdery substance was cocaine” that had been “possibly mixed with an opiate like fentanyl” and that one of the people also at the apartment was displaying pupil constriction and other signs associated with consuming “some form of opiate” along with cocaine. The person told police the cocaine was obtained “from a known and reliable source,” according to the report.

The King County Medical Examiner took the suspected drugs into possession for testing. SPD is not investigating the death as a criminal matter.

The Medical Examiner’s office identified Wilson Friday but said the official determination on a cause and manner of his death is pending further investigation.

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Jonathan
Jonathan
6 years ago

Very sorry.

Whowouldhaveguessed
Whowouldhaveguessed
6 years ago

Sure was nice of them to trash Purr a few weeks ago.

Adam
Adam
6 years ago

Don’t be a soulless monster. Some of us are grieving. Save snarky, attention seeking comments for people who deserve it.

J'Keren
J'Keren
6 years ago

Why would you print his name? There are family and friends grieving. James was an amazing a son, brother, partner, friend and co-worker. To publish this days after his death is reprehensible. There was no reason to put anyone through additional pain. His death has been enough for all who loved him, I promise you.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
6 years ago
Reply to  J'Keren

Of course it’s a tragedy, but don’t you think it’s relevant that people should know, given what transpired at Purr a few weeks ago? His name was already printed in that case, and it would seem there’s a reasonably good possibility the two incidents were related, don’t you think? That’s not to be construed as minimizing the anguish friends and family are going through.

MixteFeelings
MixteFeelings
6 years ago
Reply to  J'Keren

J’Keren, I am sorry for your loss.

Printing the name is relevant because the two men experienced near-ODs just weeks ago, after which they claimed was caused by someone slipping something into their drinks. Should people who frequent Purr and other clubs continue to wonder whether a malevolent person is wandering around spiking drinks? (The veracity of the couple’s post-Purr claims would not have been as apparent to people who don’t use hard drugs as it would have been to those who do.) That one of these young men ODed such a short time after the PUrr incident suggests that they manufactured the spiked drink story to cover their use and that there is not in fact a nefarious person out there spiking drinks to near-lethal proportions. That may be a hard truth for loved ones to accept, but this is an instance where there is a clear public interest in publishing names.

Egan Orion
Egan Orion
6 years ago

Agreed. Not sure what news value there is in printing his name. This was two days ago. And for those trolling with sarcasm, the truth of the situation is quite quotidian, I assure you–not quite the junky lying in an alley story you’d like to tell yourself in your head to justify your lack of humanity. You think you know the story, but you have no clue. James was a good, sweet man with a whole life ahead of him and so much to give to the world. There is an extended family of friends mourning tonight on Capitol Hill and beyond. Have a little decency, for christ’s sake.

Larryg@hotmail.com
6 years ago
Reply to  Egan Orion

Yeah. Let’s ignore the whole story. Let’s pretend that not pointing out poor decisions makes everything better. It’s tragic. It’s awful. But it is newsworthy, and the poor deceased soul should be used to help others. Noone just walks down the road and BAM heroin in the veins. It was a poor decision at some point that caused a promising young life to be snuffed out. Let’s stop pretending and as a city…..Grow up

RWK
RWK
6 years ago

Covering this story might perhaps cause other drug users to think twice about what they are doing, and therefore save some lives. Mr. Wilson apparently didn’t learn anything from the previous episode at Purr, but maybe others will learn from his death.

Nador
Nador
6 years ago

Sorry @Egan, but it is totally relevant to the story. James and his partner claimed they were drugged while at Purr and put the CH community on notice. They neglected to mention that they had done blow (or any drug) before going out that night in March. Now, James is dead. It’s very sad, but should be a warning to those who partake in drugs, especially cocaine and heroin which seem to be getting laced with other things more frequently of late. I and others didn’t buy their story of being drugged at Purr at the time. We knew there had to be more to the story. And there was. RIP James Wilson.

Egan
Egan
6 years ago
Reply to  Nador

The story should be told, I’m just not sure what purpose it serves other than freak out friends who hadn’t heard to list his name–it wasn’t listed in the original article. They DID think they had been drugged, because what they felt was abnormal. It’s too bad that’s the conclusion they made, because if they had suspected something else (like laced cocaine), things may have turned out differently. There are thousands of people on Capitol Hill every weekend doing blow–there’s dangerous coke out there and that is what we should lead with, not victim-blaming and saying, “ooh, I knew that story didn’t act up.” Lots of people have things slipped into their drinks throughout the year. None of this is going to bring back James, but perhaps by having a bit of compassion and understanding we can preserve some of our humanity.

RWK
RWK
6 years ago
Reply to  Nador

“Thousands” of people doing blow (is that the street name for cocaine?) every weekend? Methinks that’s a bit of an exaggeration.

Samuel
Samuel
6 years ago
Reply to  Nador

Thousands of people doing cocaine on the weekends on the Hill sounds pretty accurate. It may not be overtly visible if you don’t know what you’re looking for, but having spent time in the nightlife scene on Pike/Pike for quite some time, I can assure you that cocaine is ubiquitous at just about every bar/nightclub in the area.

Adam
Adam
6 years ago

Apparently drug dealers are lacing their cocaine with fentanyl. This is obviously a deadly combination that neither James nor his partner were aware of. I know them both and love them both dearly. Stop doing blow. It’s not worth it, no matter where you think it’s coming from. And guys, show some compassion. Somebody died. Getting that clever internet comment in is an awful thing to do. Walk in someone else’s shoes just this once.

EKO
EKO
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Agree 100% If you can’t control the source (and you can’t), then is it worth your life? That’s the takeaway here. That, and remembering that we all have our youthful indiscretions. None of us deserve to die for them, and we all deserve to be treated like humans on a common human journey, full of aspiration and imperfection. Have a little compassion. Doesn’t cost you much but a little knowledge and kindness.