RAW VIDEO: Shooting behind the wheel of a short-term rental in Dallas
A neighbour’s security camera captured the terrifying moments as around 40 shots rang out, hitting the short-term rental as well as a house across the street and two cars.
DALLAS – Residents of a Dallas neighborhood are shaken after a party at a short-term rental ends in a drive-by shooting.
A neighbour’s security camera captured the terrifying moments as around 40 shots rang out, hitting the short-term rental as well as a house across the street and two cars.
The rental was riddled with bullets.
Dallas police said no injuries were reported and the suspects remain unknown.
Security camera video from Jorge Lopez’s home shows people in three cars firing shots at the short-term rental home. He heard about 40 to 50 gunshots.
The video shows a gunman in a car, hanging from a window, shooting at the house in the 900 block of Zebb Street. It shows gun muzzle flashes and flying debris as bullets hit the house.
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“It literally felt like a war zone. Just non-stop shooting,” Lopez recalled. “That’s when we knew it wasn’t fireworks. It was non-stop for about a minute.”
The camera then recorded about 20 people quickly leaving the targeted house a few minutes later.
“It’s scary to realize after the fact what could have gone wrong,” Lopez said. “Someone could have died or been in the hospital.”
In addition to the bullet that went through the window of Lopez’s house, bullets hit her neighbor’s car and another hit her parents’ car.
“The bullet went through the driver’s side window and ended up in the passenger seat,” he said.
The targeted home was still listed on Vrbo’s website on Wednesday and was advertised as a lovely home that sleeps up to eight people for $130 a night.
However, this charm is now diminished by bullet holes left behind.
The building manager was there to assess the damage Wednesday morning.
FOX 4 has contacted the owner of the STR and Vrbo, but we have yet to hear back.
After years of debate in the city council over how to regulate short-term rentals, Dallas still has no restrictions on where they can exist.
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Owner Mark Kull is launching a petition to send to his representative on city council.
“It’s a quiet neighborhood. Our street is one block long. We have 19 houses all built in the same year,” he said. “We are letting our city council know that we don’t feel safe having this rental in our neighborhood.”
“One moment you can be with your family celebrating a new year. Then it’s a war zone,” Lopez said. “That shouldn’t happen in a residential area.”
Last month, the Dallas City Plan Commission recommended that the Dallas City Council define short-term rentals as housing. This would make them illegal in single-family and multi-family neighborhoods, but allowed in commercial or mixed-use areas.
No date has yet been set for a vote.
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