There are rumors that Michael’s cardiac arrest was precipitated by him being injected with high doses of Demerol, a painkiller drug. He reportedly got addicted to painkillers after he was badly burned in the shooting of his Pepsi commercial. A source from UCLA Hospital said that his breathing began to get shallower and slower after he was injected with a particularly high dose of this drug. He was administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by his staff.  The ambulance arrived in eight minutes but Jackson was already found to be in full cardiac arrest, no pulse, and not breathing.

All efforts were exhausted to revive him but sadly, he never regained consciousness.

Initial reports indicate that Michael was found non-responsive at his home, but his exact cause of death is not known. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office tells ET that Jackson was transported from his residence in full cardiac arrest on Thursday. They say life-saving efforts were made by paramedics throughout transport to the hospital and efforts in the hospital emergency room continued on unsuccessfully.

Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Keep checking back here at ETonline.com for more on this developing story. We’ll have updates throughout the day and immediate autopsy results once they are officially released.