TAMPA, Fla. — A Bay Area man was arrested recently after his neighbor caught him on camera allegedly attempting to poison his family by injecting chemicals under the front door of his apartment with a syringe.

The alleged victim, Umar Abdullah, caught his neighbor in the act with an undercover camera, authorities said.

Abdullah, 36, said said he had been having a disagreement with his neighbor, 36-year-old Xuming Li, over noise complaints that started shortly after his 1-year-old daughter was born.

Tampa police say undercover video allegedly shows Li sticking a syringe under the front door and injecting a liquid into the apartment where Abdullah lives with his wife and young daughter.

Abdullah said he became suspicious about an odor and installed a camera to find out where it was coming from.

He said that for more than a month, the chemical smell in their apartment was making his family sick. Abdullah said the symptoms included a headache worse than a migraine, nausea, shortness of breath, drowsiness and hair loss. 

“We never expected anyone doing something, a neighbor who we knew by face at least for a year, so we were horrified,” he told Spectrum Bay News 9. “We were shaking.”

The front door of Umar Abdullah's apartment where he installed a hidden camera after becoming suspicious about a pervasive chemical odor. (Josh Rojas/Spectrum Bay News 9)

In the video he shared with police, Abdullah said he believed Li was acting suspiciously.

“If you look at him, he’s holding his breath," Abdullah said. "So he knows the hazardous nature of this chemical."

After receiving the report, officials with the Tampa Police Department said they sent out a hazmat team to investigate.

According to Li's arrest affidavit, the team detected methadone and hydrocodone when they tested the liquid.

Li was arrested in late June on three counts of battery, possession of a controlled substance, battery on a law enforcement officer and aggravated stalking.

Xuming Li (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

Abdullah says the ordeal has left his family shaken and they’re now scared to make any noise whatsoever.

“Right now, I am afraid to live in any upper floors," he said. "I still believe there’s not too many persons like him, but still it’s like a trauma."

According to a spokesperson at the University of South Florida, Li was a Ph.D. student in the chemistry department and was enrolled in the summer session.  

According to court records, Li has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. He was released from the Hillsborough County Jail two days after is arrest on bonds totaling $5,750.

His next court date is scheduled for December.