Gunfire erupts outside short-term rental property weeks before restrictions
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Gunfire in the Shaw Neighborhood early Sunday at the corner of Shenandoah and Lawrence has residents shaken and wondering if it’s part of a larger problem.
“When a bullet goes up, it’s got to come back down,” said resident Gary Hosna. “Bullets can come down and hurt people.”
Hosna is a member of the Shaw Neighborhood Ownership Model, a citizen-led group to fight crime. He said in roughly the last few weeks, neighbors have ed NOM, reporting at least three shots fire calls.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said that on Sunday around 2 a.m., officers received calls reporting hearing shots being fired. Police said no victims of a shooting or property damage were located.
Neighbors told First Alert 4 that those behind Sunday’s shooting were leaving a short-term property (STR), and we uncovered the property is listed on VRBO. Police are not yet confirming.
The incident was recorded on a neighbor’s surveillance video which shows a group of people outside of the STR. Eventually, someone with a long gun crosses the intersection of Shenandoah and Lawrence, firing three shots.
“We did recover some castings from that and we recovered some rifle shells, the type that would be used in an AK-47,” said Hosna. “It could’ve easily hit one of the properties and gone through the windows and we have a lot of videos where that has indeed happened before.”
Last year, St. Louis City approved regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO because of the volume of violence connected to them throughout the city.
The new law prohibits parties and single-night stays at short-term rentals, requires permitted operators to have an agent available 24/7, puts a cap on the number of rentals in a multifamily home and how many short-term rentals one person can operate.
“It’s really going to help the neighborhood organization work with property owners when this type of thing occurs,” said Hosna.
New regulations take effect on November 6th. The city said that if rules aren’t followed, short-term rental owners could face fines and have their permits revoked. Neighbors hope it is one way to keep the violence away.
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