MILWAUKEE COUNTY, Wisconsin – A 4-year-old died Friday of a suspected opioid overdose in Milwaukee County.
The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office believes Tyranne Beckless died from an overdose on prescription pain pills or heroin.
Tyranne Beckless would be the seventh child under the age of five to die of an opioid overdose in Milwaukee County, in the last year and a half.
According to a neighbor of Beckless, he was found lifeless at home, cold to the touch around 3:30 in the afternoon the Saturday before Easter.
Beckless lived with his parents, sister, and brother. Paramedics rushed to the home on 26th Street, but could not save him.
Children's Hospital ER doctor Nicholas Kuehnel said he treats far too many preventable child-overdoses.
"But that's definitely one, especially in those situations, where it potentially is preventable, that makes it a little bit difficult and a little bit harder to see" Kuehnel said.
Keuhnel said medications should be kept out of reach of children and locked in a cabinet. Medicine should be properly disposed and not just dumped in the garbage. He said to be aware that it is not just illegally-obtained pills, or heroin that come into question.
"Often times, it is the legally prescribed medications, that were given to a family member or relative that are found, or given accidentally to a child. So making sure you're not medicating them with someone else's medications or sharing medication," Keuhnel said.