Airbnb Bans 'Party Houses' Following Deadly Orinda Shooting

Airbnb is banning "party houses" in the wake of a shooting in Orinda on Halloween night that killed five people and injured several others.

The shooting took place at an Airbnb rental that was being used as a party space.

In a series of tweets Saturday, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said the San Francisco-based company is expanding manual screening of "high risk" reservations and will remove guests who fail to comply with policies banning parties at Airbnb rental homes.

He also said the company is forming a "rapid response team" when complaints of unauthorized parties come in.

"We must do better, and we will. This is unacceptable," he tweeted.

Orinda Mayor Inga Miller said in an interview with KQED Sunday that she thinks Airbnb’s efforts are a good step, but she’s not sure if it’s enough for the community.

“In Orinda we had already been banning party houses – only a few people could be at a short term rental,” she said. “What we’ve seen is that parties still can occur in violation of our ordinance.”

Orinda currently requires short-term rental hosts to register with the city annually and pay an occupancy tax. The maximum occupancy is 13 people.

Miller said the Orinda City Council plans to discuss a potential ban on short term rentals on Tuesday evening.

“If Airbnb is going to have rapid response to these parties, we can only welcome that,” she said. “However, whether or not that would be enough for our residents at this point will really be part of a city discussion that will begin Tuesday night.”

The shooting on Thursday sent some 100 terrified partygoers running for their lives.

The four-bedroom home had been rented on Airbnb by a woman who told the owner her dozen family members had asthma and needed to escape smoke from a wildfire, the person with knowledge of the transaction told The Associated Press. The Kincade Fire burning in Sonoma County north of Orinda fouled the air over a wide area earlier in the week.

The owner was suspicious of a one-night rental on Halloween and before agreeing reminded the renter that no parties were allowed, said the person with knowledge of the transaction, who was not authorized to publicly disclose the information and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

No arrests had been made and there was no immediate word on a motive for the attack. Two guns were found at the property, authorities said.

Three people, all from the Bay Area, died at the scene and a fourth died at the hospital, authorities initially said. The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office identified them Friday evening as Tiyon Farley, 22, of Antioch; Omar Taylor, 24, of Pittsburg; Ramon Hill Jr., 23; and Javin County, 29. The sheriff's office identified a fifth victim, 19-year-old Oshiana Tompkins of Vallejo and Hercules, late Friday night, saying she died at a hospital.

Other people were wounded by gunshots or injured in the panic that followed, authorities said.

The party at the four-bedroom house apparently was advertised on social media as an "Airbnb mansion party."

Orinda city documents show officials issued violations in March for exceeding the home's maximum occupancy and illegal parking. City Manager Steve Salomon said the homeowner had resolved previous complaints lodged in February over occupancy and noise and in July over overflowing trash.

Airbnb is "urgently investigating" what happened, spokesman Ben Breit said in an email.

Airbnb has banned the renter from its platform and the home has been removed as a listing, he said.

House parties have long been an issue for Airbnb.

In 2018, Airbnb permanently banned a man who crammed more than 250 people into an Airbnb rental in Seven Hills, Ohio, for an unauthorized New Year's party while his host hid in a bedroom.

And in July, two people were killed during a party at an Airbnb in Pittsburgh.

KQED's Jeremy Siegel,  Queena Kim and Audrey Garces contributed to this report.