Neighbors express safety concerns over fatal Hayward Airbnb shooting

HAYWARD, Calif. (KTVU) - The deadly shooting at a Hayward Airbnb over the weekend is raising more questions about safety. 

The online marketplace for rental housing and tourism introduced new safety measures after the Halloween night mass shooting in Orinda. 

Sunday's incident was the first homicide in Hayward of 2020.  A man was found shot shortly after 5:20 a.m. at an Airbnb rental in the 1800 block of Osage Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Now Airbnb is offering its support to the Hayward Police Department. 

On Monday, a memorial of candles and balloons sat outside the house where the man was killed at a party.

Police say they are working on the investigation and the motive is not clear. When they arrived they found the victim with gunshot wounds. 

Neighbors say they saw more than the usual number of cars on the street and a lot of people running away after the shooting. 

"I see a lot of cars coming and going," Rajni Bhardwaj of Hayward said. "A lot of my neighbors said they saw 15 guys jumping out of the windows. On that small window. Skinny guys." 

Bhardwaj's home surveillance camera captured a car outside her house around the time of the shooting. Hayward police arrived a short while later, but it was too late. 

"Paramedics responded and the man was pronounced dead at the scene," Officer Cluadia Mau said. 

The Halloween shooting, characterized by police as gang related, killed five people three months ago. 

Airbnb says the Hayward house was not supposed to have parties and it was supposed to be quiet after 10 p.m. 

"Unauthorized parties are not permitted on Airbnb and we have removed the booking guest from our community," the company said in a statement. 

Neighbors had mixed reaction to the Airbnb being in their neighborhood. 

"I am very upset and we are going to talk to the city, so it won't be happening again. That's not safety at all," Bhardwaj said. 

Neighbor Dominga Hernandez said she was concerned with crowds coming in to Airbnb rentals. "I mean there was a shooting. There was a shooting in Orinda, one here. That concerns me." 

KTVU has reached out to the family of the victim, but they are not ready to comment at this point. 

Less than 24 hours later, Hawyward police are investigating the city's second homicide of the year that was reported early Monday morning. Police found a man suffering gunshot wounds on the 22000 block of Alice Street. The man was transported to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. His identity is not known.