A Florida man has been charged with several counts of battery after injecting a potentially hazardous chemical into his upstairs neighbors’ home.
After a hidden camera showed Xuming Li using a syringe to inject a chemical into the bottom of a door, he was charged with three counts of battery for dispersed chemical agent, possession of a controlled substances, aggravated stalking and battery on law enforcement via the chemical agent, according to the arrest affidavit out of Hillsborough County.
Li was a doctorate student in the chemistry department at the University of Florida between 2018 and the summer of 2023, according to a USF spokesperson. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his attorney declined to comment further on the matter.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Umar Abdullah outlined the year of conflict with his downstairs neighbor, Li, leading up to the video that got him arrested.
Abdullah said he received endless noise complaints almost immediately after moving into his Tampa apartment last year. The complaints picked up in August 2022 when Abdullah’s daughter was born, but they weren’t about the baby crying.
“He was complaining about footsteps, drawers, Roomba–like all the various sounds that you do in an apartment,” Abdullah said.
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Li went to the landlord, called the police and complained to the HOA about the noise, according to Abdullah.
On May 31, Abdullah had a friend drop by his house to check on a delivery he received while he was out of town. After she arrived, she called him and asked if he had painted or bought new furniture recently because it smelled strongly of chemicals and made her eyes burn. When he replied no, she said she had to leave because it felt like someone threw chili powder on her.
That was the first of several incidents when his family would experience the mystery smell that seemed to be coming from the water heater closet next…
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