SUSPECT SHOT BY POLICE DIES FROM WOUNDS

A man believed to be peddling a potentially deadly heroin-fentanyl
combination, who was shot in a confrontation with police in
University City, has died from his wounds, officials said Monday.

Maurice A. Adkins, 27, of the 1200 block of Partridge Avenue in
University City, died about 10 p.m. Sunday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Meanwhile, U.S. drug czar John Walters said Monday that federal
agents, working in cooperation with the Mexican government, closed a
lab in Mexico that could be the main source of the fentanyl that has
killed heroin users in eight states, including Missouri and Illinois.

Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said it's still not clear whether the fentanyl was
mixed with heroin at the lab or after it entered the U.S.

Officials suspect that 20 or more deaths in the St. Louis area are
linked to the potent drug combination. Federal officials say there
are at least 100 confirmed deaths nationally.

There was no link indicated between Adkins and any of the overdose deaths.

He was shot by two officers about 6 p.m. Thursday following an
alleged drug deal in the 7000 block of Raymond Avenue. Police said
that Adkins, when told he was under arrest, started to drive off and
that an officer's leg got pinned between the open door and door jamb
of Adkins' van.

That officer, of the Webster Groves Police Department, was not
seriously injured.

Adkins had become a priority of the St. Louis County
Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force, officials said, after police
heard he was selling heroin-fentanyl mix.

Before he died, Adkins was charged with first-degree assault on a law
enforcement officer, possession of a controlled substance and
delivering a controlled substance. Police said they found
heroin-fentanyl mix in his van.

Walters, the federal drug official, said fentanyl-laced cocaine also
has turned up in some cities, and he warned drug users that millions
of deadly doses of the fentanyl-heroin combination might still be on
the streets.

"There may be more than one source," Walters said in announcing the
raid May 28 near Guadalajara. "We think this is the principal
source." Lab tests were pending on whether the Mexican drug can be
linked to the American deaths. In addition to Missouri, fatalities
have been reported in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, Walters said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.