Suspect in custody after Florida family, baby allegedly poisoned by neighbor who complained of noise

Florida resident and PhD graduate in chemistry Xuming Li, 36, was arrested after surveillance videos showed him allegedly injecting chemicals under their front door which caused the Abdullah family who lived there to get sick, and their baby to lose her hair. 

According to the Daily Mail, authorities believe Li used a combination of methadone and hydrocodone along with a noxious agent which has still not been identified yet. The Chinese national was charged with multiple counts of battery and possession of a controlled substance for the attack. 

Umar Abdullah told Fox 13 that Li started complaining around the time the baby girl was born last year. "He complained about footsteps. He complained about door closing sounds," he said. "My landlord and I did a simulation, and we could hardly find any sound."

He said he started to notice a strange smell in May and was unable to find a source for it. When it returned in June installed a hidden camera in a pot outside. "We were suspecting someone is basically tampering with our place from outside. And then we got our neighbor injecting something through our door," Abdullah said.

Abdullah told the Daily Mail that his family suffered from vomiting, dizziness, severe headaches, and hair loss multiple times in June. "Our baby was losing her hair," he said. "In that one month, we noticed our baby's unusual hair in the shower." 

"We Googled and realized babies don't experience hair loss, and we noticed our hair in the shower as well," Abdullah continued. "We can't prove that it was linked, but we feel that it was because of the chemicals."

Li was previously a student at the University of South Florida (USF), but Abdullah said the school expelled him after the incident. Upon seeing Li on camera inject the substance into his apartment, Abdullah rushed his family to the hospital and called the police. 

In an impact statement that resulted in Li's expulsion, Abdullah said, "My heart was wrenching as my head felt like it was spinning." He continued, "My wife and I rushed to the emergency room, clutching our precious daughter, fearing the worst. 

"Seeing her tiny hand with an intravenous catheter, enduring those painful pokes and tests, tore me apart inside," the statement said. "All because of that heartless criminal, Mr. Xuming Li, whose actions had brought such misery upon our little angel."

Tests showed that the baby did not suffer from any critical complications from the incident, but to inform all future doctors about it in case they suffered "elevated blood platelet levels and any potential long-term effects."