Florida family stunned man accused of poisoning them sent back to China

A Florida man whose entire family fell sick when his neighbor allegedly injected opioids underneath his apartment door was stunned top learn the Chinese national has been deported to his homeland without facing charges.

Expecting to see his nemesis pop up in a Zoom window for a court hearing Tuesday, Umar Abdullah said lawyers instead told him Xuming Li was back in his native country.

“I was shocked,” Abdullah said. “This was a very serious crime. For there to be no punishment here is surprising. I was never told about any of this, I never expected it.”

Li was arrested in June after Abdullah set up a hidden camera that captured the former University of South Florida student crouching down and appearing to inject materials from a syringe under a door.

Officials later said Li had mixed the poisons inside his school’s chemistry lab.

The tech worker, originally from Bangladesh, said he had mixed feelings about Li’s sudden departure, saying he wanted him to answer to the felony charges against him, although he was also pleased that he was out of the country.

“If it’s true then I’m relieved he’s no longer a threat,” he said.

Abdullah and Li had been feuding over the chemists’ noise complaints at their Tampa apartment complex.

Abdullah initially thought his family was being sickened by a malfunctioning appliance, but eventually came to suspect Li of involvement, leading to him placing the hidden camera.

In one text exchange, Li once again complained that Abdullah was being too noisy.

Abdullah alluded to the the mystery sicknesses in his reply.

“My house is full of eye burning gas from the water heater,” Abdullah replied. “I was hurriedly opening my windows and doors and that was causing panic footsteps probably.”

Li gave a terse reply.

“I heard it from your landlord,” he said. “Sorry to hear your situation.”

Abdullah and his family suffered sporadic bouts of nausea and dizziness for several months prior to Li’s arrest. They moved out of the apartment complex and have since tried to put the troubling incident behind them.

The tech designer said his work involves intricate coding — and that he still struggles to concentrate on his demanding tasks.

“It’s hard to focus,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s from what happened or the trauma from it.”

It remained unclear of Li’s wife returned to China with him and their two small children.

A judge in the case issued a warrant for Li’s arrest that would only trigger in the event that he returned to the US.