2 separate shootings under investigation at Philadelphia Airbnbs, teens injured

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are investigating two separate shootings that they believe stem from parties at Airbnb properties in the city.

The first shooting happened in Kensington around 10 p.m. Monday.

"I was outside my house, and I heard a whole bunch of yelling, and then all of a sudden, I heard a whole bunch of gunshots and then a group of kids just running down the street," said neighbor Nicole Miller, who called 911.

Police say between 50 to 100 people, many of them juveniles, were at a party at what appears to be an Airbnb property at Amber Street and Susquehanna Avenue.

Shell casings were found outside.

An 18-year-old victim was believed to have been at the Airbnb property before being shot. He was taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition.

"We're trying to determine who actually rented the property at this point; we don't know," said Philadelphia Police Inspector Michael Gormley.

In the second shooting, which injured two teens, police say they had just been at that Airbnb in Strawberry Mansion the previous night for unruly crowds.

The second shooting happened around 11:50 p.m. Monday.

Police were called for a large crowd at the property on North 29th Street and Cecil B Moore Avenue.

Police say there were dozens of people inside and outside the Airbnb property, including many juveniles. While officers were dispersing the crowd, they were told a girl had been shot.

Officers found the 13-year-old around the corner. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

An 18-year-old male was driven to the hospital by private vehicle after being shot in the legs.

"We did discover one spent shell casing inside the property while they were dispersing this crowd of individuals, which speaking to police supervision from this district, they know this property to be an Airbnb," said Philadelphia Police Captain Nicholas Deblasis.

Philadelphia city council president Darrell Clarke said his office had recieved numerous complaints about the property, and is aware that it didn't have proper licensing.

"If you want to operate it, you need to operate it within the law. If not you need to be shut down," said Clarke. He said the city needs to step up enforcement and will do more soon as the Department of Licenses and Inspections will get a boost in funding.

"We need to staff up. We're going to be staffing up our L&I and as a results the of the last budget, these kinds of things we need to get a handle on," Clarke said.

Block captain Louise Branch said this home has been on the rental platform for three years.

"This particular one? It needs to be shut down all the way," said Branch.

"For the most part it's young people and parties. Now, he said he's renting to older people- that they're allowing their children or whoever to go ahead and have their parties," Branch added, referring to the owner.

"I have been trying for the last three years to get help from the politicians as well as the police," Branch continued.

The owner referred us to Airbnb. Action News reached out to Airbnb for comment.

"You need to talk to Airbnb- that's who you need to talk to," he said, getting into his pick-up.

Airbnb responded to our request for statement, saying in part: "Parties are banned on airbnb, and our safety team has taken initial action to remove the booking guests from the platform and deactivate the listings as we investigate."

Neighbors want the city to crack down on these Airbnb properties.

"They're putting too many of them out here, and they're not safe, and they're not even all legit. These kids are underage- don't you have to be 18 or older to get an Airbnb?" asked Miller.

That is correct. According to Airbnb, "We all love to wander the world, but it's against our Terms of Service for anyone under the age of 18 to create an account to travel or host."

Last year, Airbnb launched anti-party technology, aimed at blocking people who try to use the rental platform to throw a party, but it's clearly not foolproof.

In April, City Council held a hearing on short-term rental properties rented through platforms like Airbnb. The hearing followed a growing number of complaints around a handful of properties that neighbors say are consistently causing problems from parties to violence.