Nov. 2 (UPI) — Nine people were wounded Sunday in a shooting that erupted at a party being held at a large Airbnb in northern Ohio, authorities said.
Vito Sinopoli, chief of police for Bath Township, located about 26 miles due south of Cleveland, told reporters during a press conference that officers were working to identify the victims.
He said they were a “mix” of adults and youth. At least one suffered a leg injury in a fall, he said, stating they were unsure of how many suffered gunshot wounds.
Their conditions were unknown.
“This kind of violence is unacceptable in our community, and we’re committed to applying all available resources to this investigation,” he said.
Police were notified of the shooting at a residence in the 900 block of Top O Hill Drive at about midnight Saturday.
Officers arrived to find what Sinopoli described as a “chaotic scene” and began administering life-saving aid to the victims, who were then transported to area hospitals.
The shooting disrupted a “large party” at the residence that Sinopoli said had been advertised on social media as a birthday party that was to begin at 9:30 p.m.
Attendees fled when the shots were fired, he said, adding that preliminary information indicates that the majority of the shots were fired on the ground floor.
No arrests have been made. The number of shooters, if more than one, was unknown.
“We don’t have a clear indication yet of the number of individuals who may have been responsible,” he said.
Evidence was being gathered, surveillance was being reviewed and witnesses were being interviewed, he said, while calling on members of the public with information about the shooting, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to contact the authorities.
Police are in contact with Airbnb and the property owner.
There is a zoning prohibition on short-term rentals, such as those offered by Airbnb, Sinopoli said.
“Typically in a situation like this, there’d be a compliance letter issued to the property owner,” he said.
In July 2017, a shooting was reported at an Airbnb in Bath township, resulting in one person sustaining a leg wound.
On Monday, Airbnb announced an “anti-party system” to be in effect for the Halloween weekend.
It said the system uses “machine learning” on bookings to identify potential party risks. Employed last year, the system “deterred” 38,000 people in the United States and 6,300 people in Canada from booking listings over Halloween.
In a statement to ABC News, Airbnb said it was “heartbroken by this senseless act of gun violence.”
“Unauthorized and disruptive gatherings are strictly prohibited on Airbnb and our Safety team acted immediately to remove the account of the individual who deliberately broke rules by booking this stay,” the company said.
According to The Gun Violence Archive, which tallies gun violence across the United States, there have been at least 358 mass shootings involving four or more victims in the country so far this year.
