A Lansdale man is facing homicide charges after authorities said he attacked his father last month while under the influence of the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl, Montgomery County prosecutors announced Thursday.
Police responded to the home of Preston Lonnberg-Lane, 30, before dawn on March 27 after receiving a distressed 911 call.
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At the residence, located in the 1100 block of Delaware Avenue, authorities said they found Lonnberg-Lane confused and standing barefoot outside the home.
A third relative inside the house directed first responders to Thomas Lane, who was semi-conscious in the bedroom with a traumatic eye avulsion and apparent stab wounds to his head, neck and arms.
Thomas Lane was hospitalized in critical condition and later died of a hyperextensive brain hemorrhage on March 29.
In a criminal complaint, police said Lonnberg-Lane told officers he had snorted what he believed to be two bags of fentanyl before going to bed at 3:30 a.m. the night of the alleged attack.
While listening to music, Lonnberg-Lane allegedly told police, he got up suddenly, grabbed a butter knife from the kitchen and tried to kill his father. He allegedly stopped the attack when his father asked him what he was doing.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid deemed 50-100 times more potent than heroin, has been responsible for a surge in overdose deaths across the country in recent years.
Lonnberg-Lane is charged with murder and related offenses. He remains held at the Montgomery County Correctional facility ahead of a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 9.