A teenager is recovering after being injured in a shooting at a Philadelphia home that was rented for a Sweet 16 birthday party.
The shooting occurred inside a home in the 1600 block of West Ontario Street at 12:03 a.m. Sunday. A mother told police she rented the house for her daughter’s birthday party. Ten to fifteen people were partying inside the house when a gunman fired more than 20 shots at the house, police said.
“It was like eight knocks at first, then it started, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,” neighbor Lamont Mitchell told NBC10.
A 17-year-old boy was shot in the left lower back. He was taken to Temple University Hospital in stable condition.
Several neighbors told NBC10 that the house where the shooting took place is frequently rented out for rowdy parties.
Currently in Philadelphia, you only need a long-term rental license to list your property. From April 1, you will need to obtain a specific short-term rental lease.
“We have bad operators there,” Philadelphia City Councilman Mark Squilla said. “We hope that by putting these regulations in place, if people are operating, not being good neighbors, then we can remove them from these platforms, remove them from short-term rentals.
While the woman renting the house told police she did so on Airbnb, an Airbnb spokesperson told NBC10 they did not have a booking record for the property as of Saturday night. .
“For 16** West Ontario Street, there were no Airbnb reservations at this address this weekend,” the spokesperson wrote. “As you may be aware, we have implemented a number of products that block or redirect potentially risky bookings, in order to enforce our party ban. You can see them here: Since we confirm that this incident was not related to an Airbnb booking, we have no comment and respectfully request that your segment not cite Airbnb as being related to this horrific incident.
No arrests were made in the shooting, no weapons were found, and police have released no information on the suspects. If you have any information about the incident, please call the Philadelphia Police Department.
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