One person was shot dead at an Airbnb house party in California where up to 200 guests showed up

One person was shot dead at a house party in a California Airbnb rental property on August 7.

Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images

One person was shot dead at a Sunnyvale house party with up to 200 guests, police said.
The party was held at an Airbnb rental without the host's knowledge or consent, Airbnb said.
Another victim is expected to survive and is in surgery, police said.
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One person died and another was taken to hospital after a shooting at a house party in an Airbnb rental on August 7.

Between 150 and 200 people went to the party in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, police said in a press release August 8. Many of the guests were aged between 16 and 19, they said.

Ben Breit, Airbnb's global trust communications lead, told Insider in an email that the property's host bans parties, and that the party was held without her knowledge or consent. Airbnb has deactivated the listing while it investigates, Breit said.

Police arrived at the scene at 10.19 p.m. after reports of a music disturbance, and then heard gunshots, per the police press release.

"Two adult victims were located with gun shot wounds and officers began emergency medical treatment," the release said.

Both victims were taken to a hospital in San Jose, where one of the victims died from his injuries, police said in the release. The other victim is expected to survive and is in surgery, they said.

Local residents described the scene to ABC 7 News. "We saw a bunch of kids walking that looked definitely like minors and holding alcohol in various states of consciousness," neighbor Henry Alexander III told ABC 7 in an interview.

"It's nothing you would ever imagine in this sleepy little neighborhood, it was totally unnecessary and didn't have to happen," Alexander III said.

Police said in the press release that the investigation was ongoing and did not say whether they had made any arrests.

Breit told Insider in an emailed statement that "Airbnb bans parties, and we condemn the senseless gun violence that took place in Sunnyvale."

"Our dedicated Safety team is urgently working to support those impacted by this tragedy, and we are working with the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety to offer our assistance with their investigation," he said.

In November 2019, Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky said in a tweet that the company would crack down on "party houses" after a shooting at one of its rental properties in Orinda, San Francisco, left five dead.

In the year to July, Airbnb blocked almost 20,000 bookings across seven cities that it suspected could be used for house parties, Breit told The Denver Post.

Sunnyvale police did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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