Airbnb has agreed to pay funeral expenses for the five people killed in last week’s Orinda Halloween shooting, even as victims’ families decry the company’s policies that they argue led to the massacre in the first place.
The funds will “support the victims’ loved ones with funeral expenses and counseling services,” Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit said, declining to elaborate on the amount or nature of the funding.
The Oct. 31 mass shooting at an Airbnb mansion took the lives of 22-year-old Tiyon Farley of Antioch, 24-year-old Omar Taylor of Pittsburg, 23-year-old Raymon Hill Jr. of San Francisco/Oakland, 29-year-old Javin County of Sausalito/Richmond and 19-year-old Oshiana Tompkins of Vallejo/Hercules.
In the aftermath, Airbnb said it would implement several reforms to prevent similar incidents, including verifying all 7 million homes on its platform in an effort to prevent “party houses.”
On Tuesday, the Orinda City Council unanimously indicated it intends to approve an emergency 45-day ban of unhosted short-term rentals at its Nov. 19 meeting. That discussion was placed on the council’s agenda just hours after the shooting.
But the action provided little consolation to some victims’ families.
Hill’s family told the San Francisco Chronicle it plans to sue Airbnb and the Orinda homeowners, allegedly for being negligent in the death of their son.
Many in the Bay Area reeled from the shooting. In Marin City, members of a church program came together this week to remember County, a father of two who was part of the Marin City Fatherhood Council.
“He was doing all the right things,” program facilitator Donnell Jones told the Marin Independent Journal. “He often spoke of his children, saying how they were his motivation to be better, advance, better his life.”
Taylor was identified by his family as a DJ at the party. His father told a reporter his son was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He was a strong man,” Omar Taylor’s brother, Omari Taylor, told a reporter the day after the shooting. “He went through a lot of stuff, but he taught me right from wrong. He was one of my biggest influences.”
Online flyers for the party advertised local rappers would be performing, including several from the Richmond area. It was advertised as a “mansion party” and more than 100 people attended, according to police. Videos posted to social media after the shooting showed panicked guests fleeing, some nursing gunshot wounds.
Authorities say a 24-year-old man remains in a coma from gunshot wounds.
Police have barely commented on the investigation over the past week, but say there are two dozen detectives and several law enforcement agencies involved, including the FBI. No arrests have been made.
Staff writer Jon Kawamoto contributed to this report.
