SAN DIEGO -- Police said Tuesday a man who shot and killed himself last week had built a sophisticated drug lab in his University City apartment. | That was Khaled Yasufi. We were wondering what he was brewing up in his kitchen sink. |
The incident happened last Friday after neighbors complained about strong odors coming from a unit in the Coste Verde apartments. When police knocked on the door, the tenant came out and reported that everything was fine. | "Nothing to smell here. This isn't the apartment you're looking for. Move along." |
A few minutes later, however, officers heard a gunshot. A SWAT team was called to the scene and a police robot eventually entered the apartment and found the man lying dead in a pool of blood. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, NBC 7/39 reported. Tuesday, county health officials said the drug operation was sophisticated. "This is not an -- excuse the expression -- 'tweeker lab,' " said Nick Vance, of the County Environmental Health Department. "These were not small quantities. This person had to know what they were doing." | And apparently was using his own product |
Although the fumes were pungent, they were not dangerous to other tenants, Vance said. The odor came from the use of sassafras oil, which is used to make some illegal drugs. | Sassafras oil is an essential oil in the production of safrole, a precursor chemical in the manufacture of MDMA, aka Ecstasy. |
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