By Gabriel Rom
A quiet Bayside street quickly became a scene of mayhem early Sunday morning, when two men were shot after leaving what neighbors described as a riot at an expensive house rented out through Airbnb.
“There were gangs of kids and rap music blasting,” said a man who would only give his name as Fred D. “Then the police and the helicopters came.”
No arrests had been made as of Wednesday afternoon and the investigation was ongoing, police said.
According to a woman who was renting another of the listed Airbnb rooms, the owner of the house at 213-45 28th Ave. had listed two bedrooms within the four-bedroom house on Airbnb. The original Airbnb listing has since been deleted.
Fred D recalled that around two weeks ago he found a man and a woman, who were presumably the Airbnb renters of the other bedroom, sitting on his back porch with luggage.
“They said that they had rented our house. The taxi had brought them to 29th Avenue, not 28th Avenue.”
According to police, at around midnight a verbal dispute between the two victims and an unknown suspect took place in the apartment’s first-floor living room area. The dispute escalated and three shots were fired from within the apartment, police said.
The victims, a 27-year-old and a 23-year-old, both suffered torso wounds, police said. They are both expected to survive.
The 27-year-old man was taken to New York Hospital and was listed in stable condition and the 23-year-old was taken to North Shore University Hospital, where he was in stable condition, according to police.
According to a witness, about 200 people were at the party, which took place in the basement of an apartment which the upstairs owners had rented out. Neighbors described a scene of utter chaos.
“I was going to bed at midnight and I looked out and I saw a bunch of kids running back and forth,” said Pete Vigliotti, who lives down the block. “There were cars pulling into our driveway, making U-turns. There was yelling, fighting, pushing. I thought it was a riot. We stayed in the house because we were afraid,” he added.
That other renter, who declined to give her name, said that two young men had just recently rented the other bedroom and had asked the owner if they could rent the basement for a birthday party. According to the woman, the two men told the owner that the party would only have 20 guests.
The female owner of the apartment showed up at the scene early Sunday but refused to talk to the press. She was taken to the 111th Precinct for questioning shortly after arriving at the scene.
“We were deeply distressed to learn about this incident and our thoughts are with the victims and their families,” said Nick Papas, a spokesman for Airbnb. “We are in close contact with the host to provide her with our support. We have reached out to the NYPD and offered to assist them in any way possible.”
He added, “In the past few years, millions of Airbnb guests have visited New York City and situations of this type are extremely rare. Ninety-one percent of Airbnb bookings worldwide are for four or fewer people. Eighty percent are for three or fewer people, and 71% are for two or fewer people.”
“My thoughts go out to those critically injured and traumatized by the senseless violence which transpired this past weekend in Bayside,” said state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside).
“I would be remiss in my duty as a legislator were I not to call immediate attention to the unregulated economy of ‘sharing services’ such as Airbnb,” he said. “The unique business model of sharing services is not a reason to omit regulation. On the contrary, it is a reason to tighten regulation further.”
Reach reporter Gabriel Rom by e-mail at grom@
