San Francisco: Airbnb banned “party houses” on Saturday (Nov 2) after five people were killed in a shooting at a large Halloween gathering inside a rental home in Northern California that was advertised on the online listing service.
Police were still searching for the shooter who opened fire on Thursday night at the costume party, which authorities say was attended by more than 100 people at the house in Orinda, less than 20 miles (30km) east of San Francisco.
The death toll rose to five when a 19-year-old victim died of her wounds at a hospital, the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office said on late on Friday.
The party host rented the home through Airbnb and told its owner she was holding a reunion for only a dozen people, the San Francisco Chronicle reported citing the owner, Michael Wang.
“Starting today, we are banning ‘party houses’ and we are redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorised parties and get rid of abusive host and guest conduct, including conduct that leads to the terrible events we saw in Orinda,” Airbnb co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky said on Twitter.
The company was expanding manual screening of “high-risk reservations” flagged by its risk detection technology, and was creating a house party “rapid response team,” Chesky added, without elaborating.
