The FBI is assisting in the investigation into a shooting that killed four people and wounded at least four more on Thursday night at a large Halloween party at an Orinda mansion rented on Airbnb, where police are still trying to piece together what happened.
Orinda police provided few details about the shooting at a news conference on Friday afternoon and are still trying to determine how many victims were injured, how they were injured, why the shooting happened and
how many shooters there were.
The home had been the subject of repeated complaints to the city for large parties and other code violations. City officials had requested in February that police break up any large parties at the residence, which
violated city regulations.
Complaints were also lodged on Thursday night, when neighbors sent an email at 9:35 p.m., according to Orinda city manager Steve Solomon.
Solomon said neighbors also called police about the party. Police declined to say why officers did not respond.
The shooting was reported at 10:50 p.m. Officers arrived to find a chaotic scene with more than 100 people fleeing the nearly 4,000-square-foot home at 114 Lucille Way, a small street on a wooded hill where roads are narrow and winding.
Police found multiple gunshot victims inside. Three were already dead when officers arrived and five more were taken to a hospital, where one later died.
Others may have been injured as well and taken themselves to a hospital, Orinda police Chief David Cook said. He said investigators were still trying to determine if there were any other victims.
While investigators have not made any arrests and have not been able to determine who the shooter or shooters were, or why gunfire broke out at the party, Cook said he did not believe there was any ongoing threat to
the neighborhood as the house had been rented by people outside of Orinda.
“This is a party that had over 100 people in it,” Cook said. “All of those people are potential witnesses.”
He said investigators have located and are in the process of interviewing some of the people from the party but the investigation is complex and ongoing.
“Orinda is a very small, very safe, very family-oriented community that is not accustomed to violence,” police Chief David Cook said.
Orinda Mayor Inga Miller said the City Council would likely re-visit the issue of short-term rentals at its next meeting on Tuesday.
The city had already passed restrictions on the number of occupants allowed at short-term rentals like Airbnb, capping it at 13 people.
Code enforcement officials had received numerous complaints about the property since it was registered as a short-term rental last November, including a complaint in February about large parties. The city sent the
property owners, identified in property records as Wenlin Luo and Michael Young Wang, reminders about city regulations in March.
Another complaint was filed in July complaining about overflowing garbage bins.
Airbnb released a statement on Friday saying that the home has been removed from listings during the investigation and that the guest who rented it would be banned from the platform. The company said that the
listing specifically forbid parties.
“We are horrified by this tragedy and are in close communication with Chief David Cook of Orinda Police to offer our support with his investigation into who committed this senseless violence,” the company said.
“Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the victims of this abhorrent act as well as the neighbors of the home,” Airbnb said.
Solomon, the city manager, said that the problems at the address don’t necessarily stem from the short-term rental model so much as how to effectively enforce the city’s existing rules.
“The challenge and the underlying problem here is they weren’t being followed,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s the model itself, I think it’s the particular property and their willingness to follow the rules.”
photo credit: Scott Morris
It’s too bad the Airbnb did not have, nor did the city did not require @noiseawareiot
I dont care how much the security deposit is, nothing could convince me to rent my home to a stranger.
Police feared being called the “R” word and getting blasted by the Media and John Burris!!
@Anon
And this statement is based on what? Seems the police handled this as best they could. Other reports state the police were already on the way, responding to a noise complaint when the shooting was reported. Exactly how does that suggest they were afraid of the “R word”. There’s obviously a reason you use the name “Anon”!
Post deleted! Pick one name to use.
The deposit for this property was $338.
Unusual amount & significantly underfunded to cover damages in a multi-million dollar house that’s 4,000 square feet.
I’m sure the neighbors are furious. Orinda has a new police chief. And the Orinda City Council better step up to the plate.
Reminds Me of the “After Usher” party at the Clayton Hall some years ago.
I was thinking the same thing.
How about a home in a single family residential zone is not a hotel room. Renting a home as a residence is one thing, renting it out as a vacation or event rental is wrong for the neighborhood. The renters have nothing vested in the home or the neighborhood, that alone invites trouble.
Thank you! Somebody else on this site with some common sense. ABB is a crock.
Someone should like into why the $1,000,000+ home sold for a little over $4,800 in 2015, and then $1.2 million in 2017. I see strange histories on homes sold in various areas. Seem like some super shady under reported deals going on……..
9/18/2015 Sold $4,800 -99.6% Vlatka Bathgate
Mike, The sale you refer to from back in Sept 2015 was actually a finalized rental of $4800 per month that was reported by the Realtor.
Who updates those sites anyways accurately ? Not defending the owner and yes definitely makes me also not want to rent my house out either. Not anymore.
A couple years ago my family rented a big La Jolla beach house for a family birthday celebration. It was in a high end residential area. They had a ton of rules: 3 night minimum, quiet time after 9:30 pm, they had electronic noise monitors on all outside decks, so if the decibel level got too high it would alert the owner and the renter would be charged a noise fee and possibly thrown out (and deposit kept). They had Cameras along the outside doors so that they could see who was coming in and out (and make sure you were honest about how many people you had). The place had a large deposit too, so you had the risk of losing A couple grand if you acted a fool. We are a respectful group, treated the property well, and had a great time.
It sounds to me like the property owner in Orinda could have done a lot more to make this a secure rental and be more respectful to the neighbors. This “renter” may have lied her way in, but a one-night rental on Halloween? Major red flag. I’m sorry people were killed, it’s terrible, and I’m sorry for the neighbors and for anyone who runs a well-managed air bnb in Orinda because pretty sure this will be the end of Airbnb in that city .
@happy Squash ” … pretty sure this will be the end of Airbnb in that city ” Hopefully. People who can afford to live in Orinda pay way too much for that privilege to be invaded by an Oakland-style, hip-hop theme, internet-advertised party. It speaks very clearly, as well, to the character of those who threw the party and one certainly doesn’t want that element of society invading one’s expensive, quiet little neighborhood. In fact, most of those high end neighborhoods stay that way by not advertising it.
Lock up the owner’s of this property until this can all be sorted out. Lock up the person or persons who rented the house as well. Time to make some changes in the status quo.
“After this, I think Air B and B’s need to be banned.”
Sounds to me like you’ll be quick to ban anything and everything if someone decides to use it in a malicious way.
Someone stabbed someone? Lets ban knifes.
Someone got ran over? Lets ban cars.
Someone got alcohol poisoning? Let’s ban alcohol.
Someone misused an AirBNB? Let’s ban AirBNB.
Someone illegally carried an illegal Mac-10 and used it to illegally murder people? Let’s ban… oh wait.
Oh no…I just KNEW someone would start throwing around the “ban” word again. Bans are not a solution to most any annoyance and are another attempt to use the power of government to limit personal freedoms and /or strip away property rights.
The influx of the undesirable “element” into neighborhoods that anywhere they are not welcomed!
The authorities and news media claim ignorance who the attendees were and motive. BS!!! Just view the video footage and what will it tell you.
I am surprised that Burrhead did not surface immediately to squelch the video footage!!
amazing to see mostly, not all young people with no cares or worries, criticizing older folks for being Nimby’s in this situation of being critical of this whole thing, but the true Nimby’s are the people who hosted the party, they didn’t even want the party in their own back yard and took it on the road to another community.
And if they were Gay there would be thousands of people marching in the streets of Orinda.
What’s your point?
I have noticed that murder victims around the bay area never have names like Bob, Jim, Andy, Fred, Tony, Earl, or Sam. My advice is to think before you give a kid a first name.
Interesting tidbit…
“Property records list the owner of the 3,972 square-foot home at 114 Lucille Way as Michael Young Wang, with a 2005 purchase price of $1.25 million. Residents from four homes in the neighborhood said he never appeared to move in or live there. Records show that Wang’s primary residence is in CONCORD. At that home on Friday, up a winding road in a quiet neighborhood, a Subaru SUV sat in the driveway, and despite movements behind a window, no one answered the door.”
https://www.marinij.com/2019/11/01/orinda-four-dead-several-injured-in-halloween-party-shooting/
As a former law enforcement officer I can tell you exactly what happened.
1) Owner of property has no way of checking who rents and no way to enforce Orninda’s rules.
2) AirBnB…..do you really want every hotel to do a background check on you?
3) Undesirables in nice neighborhoods…….yeah, let’s be racist and ban suspicious looking people from Walnut Creek, Danville, etc……..Give the police unlimited powers….sounds good to me. You should see how I used some muni ordinances.
So, go ahead and make my day. 108RS
There is nothing racist about reporting suspicious people in one’s neighborhood.
I thought part of the BNB deal was that they provided checked out tenants for your property. From their site:
While no screening system is perfect, globally we run hosts and guests against regulatory, terrorist, and sanctions watchlists. For hosts and guests in the United States, we also conduct background checks.
Not really true is it? But in the current environment of “just get away with it” as in Lyft, Uber etc I guess that’s where we are. Some people ignoring all laws and getting away with it, at least for a while.
I don’t think any witnesses will cooperate with law enforcement. In the hood it’s frowned upon (snitching). Where are all the protests?
Any night of the week Orinda only has 2 Officers on duty. If one makes an arrest they are gone for at least 2 hours transporting and booking in Martinez.
I have no idea how there call went on Halloween but I’m sure they were fairly busy.
The initial calls were for loud party which doesn’t take priority over serious calls. Party calls are not a priority call. Once a report of shots fired went out its a top priority call meaning officers leave calls they are on to respond.
This is not a defense of Orinda PD but until somebody posts the call log for the 2 officers I don’t think judgement can be made.
You should remember that there really isn’t an Orinda PD, they are a contract city with the CoCo Sheriff and staffed by deputies on loan. I’m sure Lafayette, another contract, and the county cars from Valley and Muir stations were all responding once shots were fired.
108RS
The latest I read was that a fifth person had died after being privately transported to the hospital that night, a young woman, bringing the total dead from the shooting to five.
There are five dead so far.
Tiyon, age 22, of Antioch
Omar, age 24, of Pittsburg
Ramon, age 23, of San Francisco/Oakland
Javin, age 29, of Sausalito/Richmond
Oshiana, age 19, of Vallejo/Hercules
One more victim is Armani, age 24, of Vallejo who was wounded during the shooting and is now in a coma.
The Airbnb CEO is discussing new protocols to try to eliminate “High Risk Reservations”. However they also have a rather specific nondiscrimination policy that’s been in place for quite some time. It will be interesting to see if these policies can coexist.
Further, they are planning an IPO, so they will ultimately do whatever makes for the strongest balance sheet.
OMG!!!! How many lawsuits will the property owner be faced with?
Here are photos from the inside of the house from Zillow
https://www.zillow.com/homes/114-Lucille-Way-Orinda,-CA,-94563_rb/18480210_zpid/
I’d like to see photos of the inside of the house AFTER the party.
“Solomon said neighbors also called police about the party. Police declined to say why officers did not respond.”
They were probably too busy responding to other calls. Halloween is a notoriously busy/dreaded night for police.
Really sad that people feel the need to take it to a racial place. So much pearl clutching. Shameful that people can’t just consider 5 dead young folk as a tragedy. Regardless of color, age, or financial status, the only ones to blame are those who commit these violent acts…. and no one group is “clean” of these individuals, so, get off your high horses.
One can only go by each groups track record,and some are way worse than others when it comes to repetition of violence.Why is nobody screaming for gun control?Because it’s only offensive when whites kill.Because it’s so unusual and out of the ordinary .Why is nobody talking bad about the NRA right now?Because these weren’t law abiding gun owners with legal guns and the NRA wouldn’t be associated in anyway to the people that did this shooting.
“No one group is clean”
However, some groups are dirtier. Blacks are roughly 13% of the population but commit 50% percent of the murders.
Grateful for Claycord because most of the people that post here are not snowflakes (Snowflake is a kind word for coward/spoiled/weak). What a relief to know perhaps not everyone is breeding down on the gene pool.
@ Googlar
You forgot PG&E. Electricity causes fires so we should ban PG&E because it makes electricity and we should ban the manufactures of Transmission lines because they too have responsibility for the fires and we should ban the use of transmission lines.
We should ban fire too, you can never be too careful….
Oh we should ban people from manufacturing, using, possessing or purchasing electricity. I don’t care that your electricity has never hurt anyone. (I hate when people use that argument.) We need to make a stand for our children!
Forgot to ask –
Where can I join in on the protest against gun violence that will certainly be resulting from the Orinda shooting incident? Apparently,I have not been able to locate where to protest and where to demand a ban on guns. Also, apparently, I missed the news coverage highlighting the abhorrent behavior of these young “people”. Oh!!! Got it!!! They were NOT prlliged young white people. These were the poor, oppressed “youths” that have been down trodden by the evil white man (including the evil white police and medical personnel that, sadly, had to help them).
I get it now!!! All the whinners are correct!! We do not have equal standards. Some “people” are held to a lower standard because . . . let me think about that . . .
Governor Gavin has called on Congress to pass more laws to prevent “gun violence.” Is he unaware that he is governor of a state that has the strictest gun control, and ammunition control, laws in the country? So, with all of these laws that are the dream of the anti gun groups, how could this even have happened?
It’s a puzzle.
It doesn’t matter how many gun laws are passed, criminally minded will continue to find a way to commit murder and mayhem. You will only strip the law abiding citizens of protecting themselves.
Just in case anyone read my previous comment, I apologize for misspelling the word “privileged”. It’s all about the higher standard.
It surprises me this has been such a low key crime. Everyone is so paranoid about looking racist. It is what it is. It was a black hip hop party in an upper class Orinda neighborhood where the majority of people are mostly white probably. So what? They lied, disrespected, and a killer showed up. From the looks of the flyer they were posting to anyone and everyone on social media, they invited trouble and they got it. It takes a real Einstein to throw an open invitation party in a quiet town with one lane roads. Total lack of integrity and so disrespectful. Talking about this group of people…not the whole race.
“One bad apple … “
A shooting at a party with five dead. it’s not getting 24/7 coverage as other shootings with five dead have gotten. The Moms Demand Action Twitter account is, of course, all over it, because it clearly demonstrates the need for sensible gun reform, or something. What it actually demonstrates is the need to have sensible gang banger control.
Do you seriously think that’s going to make any difference? What did they expect? Their business model actually invites abuse. It’s like the kids are home while the parents are on vacation. Or, like Uber bans rapists. Yeah, that’ll work.
How does the police chief know there is no threat to the community if he has no clue who the shooter(s) were or how many there may have been?
I would bet the owners knew exactly what they were doing here. It’s all about trying to make an easy buck.
Hey Googster, what’s a Mac-10?
You’re pretty good at dispatching in hindsight. What a shame that you can’t get a paycheck for that.
Or there was a higher priority call than a noisy party at that time. 108RS