Dozens of people fled the area when shots were fired at a Airbnb rental over the weekend in Seattle.
The incident happened in the Magnolia neighborhood at about 11 p.m. Saturday.
Neighbors told KIRO 7 there were more than 100 people at the rental home for a party when shots were fired and panicked neighbors called 911.
Teens packed the rental for a party advertised on Instagram when neighbors say someone started firing shots at a boy who took off running toward neighbor Michael Anderson's house.
"You see a mob of people just descending down the hill and through all of our neighbors' yards," said Anderson.
The Airbnb listing for the Lynn Street house specifically says, "no house parties," but neighbors said they tried to let the owner know about the party, but couldn't get in touch with anyone.
No injuries were reported, but Saturday's violence has neighbors feeling uneasy about rental homes.
"If this whole house is for rent and nobody's stopping by or at least driving by, that concerns me for sure," said Anderson.
The Airbnb host says he was shaken by what happened and reassured neighbors it won't happen again.
He apologized to neighbors, explaining that, "The individuals represented themselves fraudulently" and that it was their first time renting an Airbnb so screening wasn't accurate.
The listing is no longer on Airbnb, but some neighbors are still concerned after the unexpected violence next door.
"My wife and I are thinking about moving," said Anderson.
The host is now considering setting up a camera outside to monitor the property from afar, if he
decides to list it on Airbnb again.
A statement from Airbnb follows:
"We are urgently investigating this incident. We have banned this guest from our platform, we have reached out to local law enforcement to offer our assistance, and we are fully supporting our host. The safety of our community is our priority and, to date, there have been over 400 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings; negative incidents are extremely rare."
"Even so, we’re constantly working to improve our platform, our policies, and our protections, because even one incident is one too many."
"In fact, Trust and Safety is its own department with offices spanning the globe in San Francisco, Portland, Dublin, and Singapore. Our team is made up of engineers, 24/7 response agents, data scientists, product managers, designers, law-enforcement liaisons, crisis managers, and victim-advocacy specialists, in addition to policy, privacy, cybersecurity, insurance, and fraud experts—all working together to keep our community safe."
The statement went on to list specific safety features that can be found on their website and at this link: https://www.airbnb.com/trust,
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Cox Media Group
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