Early Wednesday morning, police responded to a shooting at an Airbnb in Philadelphia that left a man in critical condition, locals say SCS and NBC reports.
Tanya Little, public information officer for the Philadelphia Police Department, confirmed the incident to USA TODAY but declined to confirm the shooting location was an Airbnb vacation rental.
“At approximately 1:25 a.m., 22nd District officers responded to Page Street for a shooting report,” Little said in an emailed statement. “Upon arrival, officers found the 21-year-old victim with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body.”
The victim was taken to Temple Hospital and police say he remains in critical condition.
Airbnb spokesperson Ben Breit confirmed to USA TODAY that they are investigating and that the guest from the booking has been removed.
Eyewitnesses told NBC and CBS that the place was an Airbnb where 15 people partied.
Bril Taylor, who was inside when the shooting happened, told CBS his first instinct was to get down. He doesn’t know what the motive could have been.
“Nobody knows, no Instagram beef. We were here, probably people hated us,” Taylor said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Little said there had been no arrests and the investigation was still ongoing.
“It could have been worse. We had 15 people inside and we have one casualty. So it could have been really bad,” captain George Fuchs told CBS Philly.
This is not the first violent incident reported at an Airbnb location.
Earlier this month, Airbnb committed to officially ban party houses and open invitation events following filming at a rental in Orinda, California.
And Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky sent an email to employees last month detailing the actions taken by the company after several people were killed and injured in the orinda shootoutChesky vowed to crack down on party houses – even though social media users were skeptical.
The platform said it would begin evaluating all seven million listings on Airbnb with the goal of having every home and every host verified by the vacation rental company by Dec. 15, 2020, Chesky wrote in an email.
The company also posted a blog on its website on Dec. 13 detailing strategies for helping customers during the holiday season. “Beginning this holiday season, we will have dozens of specially trained officers to support this application and handle rapid response in our online and phone channels for urgent neighborhood issues,” the message read. “These are all parts of Airbnb’s commitment to continuously innovate so that we can prevent, detect and respond to security issues.”
Contributor: Grace Hauck
Note:How to Recognize and Protect Against Airbnb Home Rental Scams
Heads up:Airbnb plans additional security efforts for listings, Experiences after Orinda shooting
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