Two men injured following shooting at Edmonton Airbnb
Posted November 3, 2019 4:39 pm.
Last Updated November 4, 2019 7:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON – Two men have been seriously injured in a shooting early Sunday morning.
Around 3:20 a.m. officers were called to a shooting near 88 Avenue and 91 Street. Upon arrival, first responders found the two injured men in critical, life-threatening condition and rushed them to hospital.
One victim has been upgraded stable condition and the other is still in serious condition.
While the police can’t confirm many more details, neighbours told CityNews the shooting happened at a house on a usually-quiet street and that the house has been rented out on Airbnb for about a year.
CityNews was able to find the home listed on Airbnb on Sunday morning, but by the afternoon it had been removed.
People living in the area said that they were woken up by police one a loudspeaker, telling people to leave the home.
“The incident itself I didn’t see, but I was woken up by the combination of the loud voice on the PA from the police and the headlights. They had squad cars at both ends of the street and the one at [my] end was illuminating the street,” said neighbour Dale Askey.
“I walked outside just sort of down the sidewalk to sort of see what was going on. It looked like a house party being broken up, which is I guess is the case. Basically they were saying [over the speaker] that ‘we need to empty the house to make sure everyone is safe and we’re coming in with the K9 unit and the dog bites and if you’re in the house you’re going to get bitten’.”
Another neighbour, Sally Mclean, says it looks like it was a Halloween party with about 60 people in the house.
“It looked like they were younger kids,” said Mclean. She says she was also woken up by police calling for people to walk out of the house with their hands up.
“‘We won’t hurt you, don’t be afraid, just come out.’ That’s what they were saying,” shared Mclean. She says she’s a bit surprised to see something like this happen on her street and they’ve never had any issues with Airbnb renters in that house before.
Askey said he asked police what happened and they explained to him there was a party at the Airbnb rental and that there was a shooting. He added a situation like this raises questions about Airbnb policy and how potential renters are screened.
Saturday Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced that the company would be banning “party houses” and taking steps to address “unauthorized parties and abusive conduct” from renters.
“The senseless violence reported has no place in the Airbnb community, and our thoughts are with those who have been impacted by this incident. We have removed the booking guest from our platform and we stand ready to support Edmonton Police in their investigation,” reads a statement from Airbnb.
“Unauthorized parties represent a clear breach of trust, and as a global platform predicated on trust between hosts and guests from around the world, we take reports of unauthorized parties incredibly seriously. And when we learn of guests violating the trust of their host by throwing an unauthorized party, we take swift and appropriate action while we investigate the reported incident.”
No word yet on if police are looking for a suspect or if there’s a suspect description. However, police did say there’s no concern for public safety.
If you have any information, contact Edmonton Police or send in an anonymous tip using Crime Stoppers.