An 18-year-old resident of Irvine, California, has once again found his home the subject of an FBI investigation after neighbors reported a strong chemical smell emanating from barrels in the backyard of his family's new residence. The incident on Tuesday involved the Irvine Police, hazardous materials crews, the bomb squad, and the FBI.
This marks the second time this year that the teenager, Amalvin Fritz, has been at the center of a federal probe involving his chemical experiments. His family's attorney, Charles Young, stated that the three barrels in question had previously been cleared by the FBI during the initial investigation. The Fritz family temporarily left their home while authorities conducted the assessment.
"The family is beyond frustrated that this is happening again, and that people are scared of what they don’t understand," the attorney told NBCLA. Neighbors expressed bewilderment that the situation had recurred.
"Now that this is pertaining to maybe a new site, a new location, what is the underlying reason for that and why isn’t it where he basically shouldn’t conduct any hazmat materials at his age? I don’t know how he gets the materials in the first place," said Raj Bhatia, an Irvine resident and member of the city's planning commission, to CBS.
During the first incident, when Fritz was 17, he had claimed that his experiments involved mixing common household chemicals such as Epsom salts, nail polish remover, and rubbing alcohol with water.
