A Florida chemistry student was caught on a neighbor’s hidden camera allegedly injecting an opioid “chemical agent” under his front door, causing the family and their newborn baby to fall ill, police say.
Umar Abdullah and his pregnant wife moved into their new Tampa condo in June 2022 and were warmly welcomed by other residents of the building.
Soon after, however, Abdullah began receiving text messages from his disgruntled downstairs neighbor, Xuming Li, an apparently “regular guy” who complained of losing sleep and hearing the toilet seat move, he told WFLA.
After months of fighting, Abdullah said, he, his wife and their daughter began to feel dizzy and vomit.
“I look at my daughter,” Abdullah told the outlet. She “she had tears in her eyes. She was not crying, but her eyes were full of tears.
Xuming Li was caught on hidden camera allegedly filling a syringe with chemicals and shooting the liquid under his neighbor’s door. Chanel 8 News
A friend first noticed the chemical smell while retrieving a package for Abdullah while he and his family were on vacation.
When she returned, she said, she noticed an odor that she described as more “unpleasant” than nail polish remover.
He called the air conditioning company, who found no problem.
She then called a plumber, who also found no problem with the water heater that seemed to be emanating the smell.
The footage shows Li apparently dumping the liquid inside the syringe, which contained opioids, through a crack in the door. Chanel 8 News
The owner replaced the heater and even had the air ducts and vents cleaned, but the chemical smell was still there.
Abdullah even called the fire brigade, but once again the tests turned up nothing.
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“After all this, I never thought not,” Abdullah said. “I’m just imagining this. No.”
But then, confident there was a problem, he said, “he started sniffing that place like a dog.”
When he searched the door, he found a small crack in the corner.
Suspecting that his neighbor Yi might have something to do with his family’s illness, he set up a hidden camera outside.
When Abdullah’s daughter fell ill again, he reviewed the footage, which showed Yi crouched outside his door, though it was unclear what his neighbor was doing.
“We were shaking,” Abdullah recalled to WFLA. “We can’t imagine him coming in and doing something.”
He adjusted the angle of the hidden camera, and when his daughter got sick again, he reviewed the footage.
This time, the video showed Yi taking out a syringe, filling it with liquid, and then injecting the liquid into the crack in Abdullah’s door frame, according to WFLA.
Umar Abdullah said his family experienced dizziness and vomited before discovering the source of the chemical smell Chanel 8 News
Abdullah immediately took his family out of the house and called the police.
Li was arrested by Tampa police and charged with several felonies, including possession of a controlled dangerous substance and robbery.
A hazardous materials test revealed that the “liquid chemical agent” contained a combination of methadone and hydrocodone, both opioid pain relievers.
Xuming Li is scheduled to appear in court on December 5. Chanel 8 News
Li is listed as a doctoral student in chemistry at the University of South Florida, but the school told the outlet that he had not been enrolled since the end of the summer 2023 semester.
He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court on December 5.
He is facing a separate lawsuit from Abdullah for domestic violence and from the condominium association for breach of contract.
Abdullah’s daughter just celebrated her first birthday at the apartment, but he says he is thinking of moving his family elsewhere.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn