Gunfire strikes homes during Airbnb party

YOUNGSTOWN -- Police are still investigating after multiple houses were struck by gunfire during a birthday party at a short-term rental house on Friday night

A Youngstown police report states that officers responded to several calls shortly after midnight and found shell casings around the rental at 2147 Coleman Drive and numerous people inside.

The report states that witnesses could not identify the shooter and were largely uncooperative.

Police ordered everyone out of the house and conducted a safety sweep. They found neither injured partiers nor suspects in the house, the report states.

Police later recovered two vehicles reportedly seen speeding away from the area.

Taylor Premec lives down the road from the Airbnb house. Her father-in-law's truck was hit by a bullet. She told The Vindicator that she and her husband had just gone to bed when they heard gunfire.

"We got up and looked out the window and we could see people running all over," she said. "Somebody in a pickup truck stopped right in front of our house, and they saw my husband looking out the window and then they just sped off. And all the other cars on the street left too."

The report states that one person attending the party told police he was in the basement when he heard what the report describes as "massive amounts of gunfire" outside. He did not see who fired the shots.

Several residents reported that their homes had been struck by gunfire. Neighbor Donald DeVaul said he heard the gunfire, but did not see the shooter. His wife reported seeing a person with a firearm taking cover near their property.

It is unclear if she is the same witness who told police she looked outside after hearing the shots and saw a man hiding behind a neighbor's vehicle. The report states that that witness said they then saw another man, carrying a long gun, arrive and put the first man into a truck.

The report does not say whether either of those men are known or believed to be the shooters.

DeVaul said the short-term rental has been the site of large gatherings and disturbances since it began operating next to his home, and he has had to call police on at least two previous occasions over the past year.

"We've been here 22 years and we never had this issue until they put that Airbnb in there," he said.

Tracy Toney, who lives a few doors down and across the street, said a bullet came through her bedroom wall.

She said she had just gotten up to go to the kitchen when she heard gunfire. She said her grandchild was in the house with her and a friend who was staying the night. She said they all dropped to the floor.

Toney showed reporters where the bullet entered her house and the path it took inside. It struck the front of the home, under the bedroom window, to the left of the front porch at an angle. It went through the bedroom wall, about four feet from Toney's bed, where she had been lying moments earlier. It then went through the perpendicular wall, came out in the hallway and struck the front closet door. She said another bullet went into an upstairs room.

"I was really scared. I was so scared. I ain't even able to sleep," she said.

Toney said her young granddaughter was traumatized by the shooting.

"She was crying hard, she didn't get any sleep either. I think this is going to stick with her for a minute," she said.

Another neighbor, Shane Sullivan, lives up the street, toward Kirk Road, and a few houses away from the Airbnb home.

"I was sleeping, I woke up and I know I heard about 10 gunshots," he said.

Sullivan and the other neighbors all agree that the neighborhood is a quiet one and has not had problems until the Airbnb began operating.

"I've been here since 2012 and we've never had any kind of problems like this," Sullivan said. "Hopefully, they stop renting that Airbnb."

"It was extremely terrifying," Premec said. "We have three kids. I never thought anything like this would happen here."

She said she and her family have lived in the house since November, but it was her husband's grandmother's home for more than 30 years before that.

While Youngstown police investigated on Coleman Drive, Boardman police responded to a Schenley Avenue residence where two vehicles seen leaving the area of the shooting -- a white Kia K5 and a black Kia K4 -- had arrived.

A person at the Schenley Avenue residence told police that several people got out of the Kias and ran away.

Officers found a bullet hole in the white Kia's front windshield and two spent 9 mm casings inside. Police had both vehicles towed.

At least one or two other houses on Coleman were hit by gunfire. The report does not identify any suspects. The case was referred to detectives for further investigation.