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Oct 1, 2021 9 tweets 5 min read Read on X
SPECIAL REPORT: Snapchat has been linked to the sale of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills that have caused the deaths of teens and young adults in at least 15 states.

“It was as easy as ordering a pizza,” says one parent.

Reporting by @oliviasolon.

nbcnews.to/3Fciwhl Image
14-year-old Alexander Neville had been poisoned by a single counterfeit pill that, according to his toxicology report, contained enough fentanyl to kill four people.

“Snapchat is an accomplice,” his mother says.

nbcnews.to/3Fciwhl Image
In April 2020, Daniel Puerta-Johnson, 16, had taken just half of what he thought was an OxyContin pill that his dad believes he bought through Snapchat.

Daniel was soon declared brain dead and his parents made the agonizing decision to have Daniel removed from life support. Image
20-year-old Alexandra Capelouto was home for Christmas break from Arizona State Univ., where she received a full scholarship, when she took a counterfeit pill.

The family later saw that the transaction with the person who apparently sold her the pill had taken place on Snapchat. Image
In April 2020, 19-year-old Devin Norring was found unconscious in his bed.

The family later learned that he had taken a pill he believed to be Percocet, bought through Snapchat with a friend.

”We are still reporting Snaps from Devin’s dealer a year later,” his family says. Image
In the early hours of Nov. 15, 2020, 23-year-old Ryan McPherson and his brother, John, both took pills they thought were Percocet and collapsed at their dad’s house.

Paramedics arrived too late to save Ryan.

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Kierston Torres-Young and a friend had taken what they thought was Percocet, delivered by a boy they met on Snapchat, as they hung out and watched Netflix.

Shortly afterward, Kierston and her friend both passed out face down. Only her friend could be resuscitated. Image
Before he died, 13-year-old Luca Manuel had root canal. Afterward he complained about the pain, including to a 19-year-old on Snapchat.

The 19-year-old allegedly offered to sell him a Percocet, his mother says:

“It was not a Percocet … He only had fentanyl in his system.” Image
On May 8, Dylan Kai Sarantos' mother found him unresponsive.

As an ER nurse, she knew he was already gone.

She would later learn that he’d bought what he thought was ecstasy through a Snapchat dealer. His autopsy report revealed that he’d ingested a deadly dose of fentanyl. Image

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More from @NBCNews

Apr 4
Gaza’s universities embodied the ambitions of young Palestinians.

In weeks, the Israeli military destroyed them.
nbcnews.app.link/nLNnEi5VwIb
According to @NBCNews analysis of videos, photos, and interviews with university staff and students, at least 5 of Gaza’s 7 major universities have been destroyed or partially damaged since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

nbcnews.app.link/nLNnEi5VwIb
According to NBC News analysis of videos, photos, and interviews with university staff and students, at least 5 of Gaza’s 7 major universities have been destroyed or partially damaged since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Abdallah Abujaser, a 22-year-old clinical psychology student at Israa University in Gaza, saw a video of his school reduced to rubble on social media.

He says it was like watching his future disappear.

nbcnews.app.link/nLNnEi5VwIb
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Read 7 tweets
Feb 7
Last March, Iowa police investigated a bomb threat targeting a junior high school.

They determined that the threat was a hoax.

But a detective from the police department had a theory about its possible inspiration: the ‘Libs of TikTok’ account. nbcnews.com/tech/internet/…
Officers and government officials in four other jurisdictions tell @NBCNews they believe the account has sparked threats in their localities with posts that digitally heckle people such as drag performers, LGBTQ teachers and doctors who treat transgender patients.
.@NBCNews identified 33 instances, starting in November 2020, when people or institutions singled out by ‘Libs of TikTok’ later reported threats.

21 of the 33 incidents were bomb threats, which most commonly targeted schools. nbcnews.com/tech/internet/…
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Oct 25, 2023
NEW: A Mississippi mother spent 172 days searching for her adult son, only to learn that he’d been dead all along.

An off-duty officer had run him over less than an hour after he left the house.

Authorities then buried him without notifying his family. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/b…
The last time Bettersten Wade saw her son, Dexter — who suffered from mental illness — was March 5, when he walked away from their home with a friend. She reported him missing to Jackson police nine days later.

nbcnews.app.link/HGhpV3VHbEb
The last time Bettersten Wade saw her son, Dexter — who suffered from mental illness — was March 5, when he walked away from their home with a friend. She reported him missing to Jackson police nine days later.
For months, Bettersten said, she asked police for updates, and officers told her they had no info.

She did her own search, visiting abandoned homes, asking around her neighborhood and posting desperate pleas on Facebook, begging Dexter — or anyone who’d seen him — to call her. Unaware of her son's death, Bettersten pleaded for help on Facebook.
Read 8 tweets
Oct 13, 2023
BREAKING: Hamas intentionally targeted elementary schools in Israel, instructed terrorists to seize hostages, move them into Gaza, and to "kill as many people as possible," maps and documents recovered from the bodies of attackers show. nbcnews.com/news/investiga…
One page labeled “Top Secret” outlines a plan of attack for Kfar Sa’ad, saying “Combat unit 1” is directed to “contain the new Da’at school,” while “Combat unit 2” is to “collect hostages,” “search the Bnei Akiva youth center” and “search the old Da’at school.” One page labeled “Top Secret” outlines a plan of attack for Kfar Sa’ad, saying “Combat unit 1” is directed to “contain the new Da’at school,” while “Combat unit 2” is to “collect hostages,” “search the Bnei Akiva youth center” and “search the old Da’at school.”
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Read 4 tweets
Oct 9, 2023
LIVE UPDATES: ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT

• Israel orders a "full siege" of the Gaza Strip in what officials say will cut off power, food and fuel

• 1,100+ people have been killed in the fighting
nbcnews.com/news/world/liv…
IDF says it has called up at least 300,000 reservists since the Hamas attack. nbcnews.com/news/world/liv…
Former U.S. intelligence and military officers say tactics Hamas used in its attack indicate Iran most likely played a significant role in the Hamas attack on Israel.

Iran's foreign ministry denies that the country was involved.
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Read 26 tweets
Aug 4, 2023
In 2009, Desiree Jennings, the “Flu Shot Cheerleader,” became a media sensation for her story that a vaccine triggered a mysterious disability.

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“Run.” nbcnews.com/news/us-news/d…
The media storm came as the world was in the midst of a different pandemic — a novel H1N1 flu — and anti-vaccine activists were on the hunt for vaccine injury stories.

Jenny McCarthy’s group found her and offered a cure – if she would star in an anti-vaccine documentary.
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Read 6 tweets

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