C-E leakage current, breakdown voltage in 2N2222A
Note the variants in pinouts (image from Wikipedia):

I would also not be totally gobsmacked to see a &quot;2222&quot; made with Japanese-standard E-C-B pinout from some Asian source. Check an unsullied transistor with diode range on a multimeter.
The diode forward voltage that is slightly lower than the other is the C-B junction. Or plug it into the hFE tester on your multimeter- assuming only E/C are unknown from your diode test and the higher gain identifies the correct orientation. Usually they won't be close (like ~10 vs. ~200).

As far as what could kill a correctly connected transistor, should that happen, the culprit could be an inductive load or a violation of the safe operating area (SOA). If no SOA chart is shown on the datasheet, avoid combinations of high Vce with high current  (as can happen when switching an inductive load, even with a flyback diode). A beefier transistor (for example using a 600mA transistor to switch a 150mA inductive load rather than a 200mA transistor) usually prevents any problems. Without a flyback diode, of course the energy in the magnetic field goes into the tiny transistor die and can damage it if/when it avalanches, at more than 40V in this case.