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Rancho Penasquitos residents upset after wild party at Airbnb house

Residents in Rancho Penasquitos neighborhood are upset after they said a party at a house being rented out through Airbnb got way out of hand.
Rancho Penasquitos residents upset after wild party at Airbnb house

SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – Residents in Rancho Penasquitos neighborhood are upset after they said a party at a house being rented out through Airbnb got way out of hand.

Residents claim they heard gunshots and glass breaking before police responded early Sunday morning.

San Diego police confirmed to News 8 they will be issuing an arrest warrant for at least one of the attendees at the out-of-control party that ended in a series of gunshots.

The incident is an alarming and highly unusual even for Rancho Penasquitos – one that residents said demonstrates the need for clearly-defined rules on short term vacation rentals.

Longtime Rancho Penasquitos resident Paul Hoover’s deep sleep Saturday night was interrupted by a real-life nightmare early Sunday morning by series of five gunshots - followed by another volley shots and the sound of shattered glass.

“The yelling. You heard the yelling and the screaming and the fighting. Then you heard tires screeching and people leaving very quickly,” said Hoover.

The source of the rowdy, violent ruckus at around 3 a.m., Sunday was a house on Picrus Street in the normally tranquil neighborhood of Lake Village. It’s a four bedroom, 2,000 square-foot house offered as a short term vacation rental on Airbnb for $715 a night that is able to accommodate 24 people.

“If you are going to have a party with 100 or more people, I think the owner should be there,” said a neighborhood resident. 

A Park Village resident, who asked not to be identified, said that whoever rented the house for the weekend allegedly advertised the venue through social media as the site of a so-called “mansion party” – charging admission and issuing wristbands to guests. Residents said this rude and bullet-ridden awakening in the middle of the night should serve as a wake-up call to city leaders to step in and regulate short term vacation rentals.

“I would like to see the City Council put on their big boy pants and make a decision on this matter,” said Hoover. 

Last month, despite a number of legislative proposals on the table, San Diego City Council yet again failed to approve regulations on short term vacation rentals.

Molly Weedn, spokesperson for Airbnb, released the following statement:

"We have no tolerance for disruptive party behavior. We have permanently removed this guest from our platform, are offering the host our full support through our Host Guarantee program. In addition, we will be reaching out to law enforcement to offer our assistance with their investigation. There have been more than 260 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings to date and negative incidents are extremely rare, but even so, we're constantly working to improve our policies, and our protections, because even one incident is one too many."

News 8 did not receive a request for comment response from the owners of the vacation rental house in this weekend’s incident.

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