As many as ten persons appear to have been hit and seriously wounded after a suspect reportedly armed with a MAC10 machine pistol sprayed a home on Lucille Way in Orinda Thursday night. Four people are believed to have been killed.
Police from all three Lamorinda agencies and beyond descended on the residence at around 10:45 p.m. Thursday after neighbors reported hearing “fireworks” and others reported seeing a person firing a gun at partygoers.
Multiple casualties – male and female – were reportedly down in various conditions throughout the residence. Initial reports are that others may have been injured attempting to flee the house after gunfire erupted. Initial reports could not be immediately confirmed with law enforcement, who were busy dealing with the panicky aftermath of the incident.
On Friday, the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff identified those killed at the party as: 22-year-old Tiyon Farley of Antioch, 24-year-old Omar Taylor of Pittsburg, 23-year-old Ramon Hill Jr. of San Francisco/Oakland and 29-year-old Javin County of Sausalito/Richmond.
Friends and family said Taylor was DJing at the party.
Several other victims were transported to local hospitals by ambulance, according to a sheriff’s spokesman, while some victims transported themselves to the hospital. The injured suffered from gunshot wounds and injuries sustained while fleeing the scene.
The Sheriff’s Office Forensic Services Division Crime Lab responded to the home to process the scene and recovered two firearms of unknown description found at the residence. The Crime Lab is analyzing the weapons to determine if they were used in the shooting or any other crimes, according to the sheriff’s office. Numerous shell casings found at the scene are also being processed and analyzed by the Crime Lab.
Witnesses reportedly saw a heavy-set black male in an orange hoodie firing a MAC10 machine pistol into the partygoers – four of whom were reported down inside the home’s kitchen.
Video taken inside the residence up to the moment at least two shots can clearly be heard ringing out captured a boisterous event with dozens of people in costume dancing and smoking. The video’s maker set the time the gunfire erupted at 10:48 p.m and titled his video: “Party all shot up.”
A car associated with the gunman was reportedly seen fleeing through the Caldecott Tunnel shortly after the shooting.
The home at 114 Lucille Way was currently being sealed off as a crime scene by police (11:17 p.m.) Six ambulances were summoned to the home and police and medical crews attempted to deal with the large number of dead and wounded.
The hosts of the party had rented out the house using Airbnb, the home’s owner told the San Francisco Chronicle. The Halloween Night shooting is the second violent incident involving an Airbnb home being used as a party location in Orinda.
On Feb. 13, 2016, a 21-year-old Chabot College student was severely beaten at a party on Camino Encinas in the city. The victim in that case suffered traumatic brain injuries and was subsequently flown back to his home in Florida. A suspect in that case, Falealea Tytus Maka, 21, was taken into custody by members of the US Marshals’ Fugitive Task Force and the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff Warrant Service Unit.
A chaotic scene ensued in the moments after gunfire broke out, neighbors said, with “hundreds” of party-goers attempting to flee the area. Several people were injured jumping from the second-story patios and windows of the home when the shooting started – approaching deputies with various injuries after police moved in.
Reports of additional people turning up at other local hospitals with gunshot wounds could not be immediately confirmed, though two people believed to have been suffering from gunshot wounds and a third person believed injured while fleeing the home turned up later at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
An air ambulance was called to the crime scene to help with casualty evacuation, with at least one landing at Wilder Sports Field to help with extrication, while others maintained overwatch positions above the scene.
Airbnb rental hosting a party for out-of-towners, apparently. No less awful but, to me, if I’m honest, it’s less scary than thinking that something like this could be done by/to locals.
They were not locals………..
They were indeed locals. Another media outlet reported that most of the revelers were Laney College students.
Laney college is located in the adjacent municipality. Like it or not, that qualifies as “local” by
… any reasonable definition. Indeed, Oakland is no less “local” to Orinda than Moraga or Lafayette.
Further, you have no idea as to the perpetrators’ domicile. Who do YOU know where he / they live(s)????
Directly from dictionary
“belonging or relating to a particular area or neighborhood, typically exclusively so.”
Laney College is in another country so doesn’t fit the local def. your stretching it quite a bit.
I’m not saying this couldn’t happen with locals but…
Laney College is a 20 minute drive from this house without traffic. It’s nowhere near being “Local”, it’s in another County for god’s sake.
Why do you have to show the photo of a common, legal handgun when the perpetrator used an illegal firearm? You used a photo of a Sig Sauer handgun. Often used by law enforcement. There are plenty of images on the internet of a MAC-10. Show the people the real weapon. It’s ugly. It’s scary.
Please remember that this was an extremely chaotic incident, coming on the heels of another scary incident in Lafayette. We used a stock image of a firearm to convey what we knew, that a firearm was involved. Information we developed at the time was that the weapon used in Orinda MAY have been a MAC-10 – which we are familiar with – but we have seen all manner of descriptions given to weaponry during incidents such as this one. We’re less interested in the nomenclature than confirmation that it was indeed the type of weapon used. If it was, it would explain why so many were killed, wounded. But until it is recovered, we have no way of knowing.
What reason do you have to believe it was a MAC-10, since the suspect and gun have not been found? Was that reported by law enforcement or a specific news outlet?
Craig, that information was shared by attendees. We have consistently stated that we did not see the weapon, that law enforcement does not have it, but that people at the scene last night saw a weapon of that description. UPDATE: Police now say they have recovered two weapons of undetermined type from the home.
Just 2? A rock and scissors? I have more than 2 weapons in my kitchen.
Thanks. From a journalism standpoint, your story states flatly in the lead that the suspect was armed with a MAC-10, which implies that you have factual confirmation that was the weapon. It would have been better to say “armed with a weapon that some attendees described as resembling a MAC-10 machine pistol.”
It’s hard to see how attendees in such a chaotic scene could definitively identify a particular model of a gun.
Which we have stated, time and again, over and over again… our lede that evening, keep in mind, was written as events were unfolding. The quotes we received came from attendees who said the weapon was an “automatic” MAC-10. We were not able to assess a person’s ability to accurately describe a weapon in an obviously stressful situation, and we are fully aware that weapons used in these situations are often mistaken for others.
How sad and tragic. Praying for the victims. “Hundreds of party goers” fleeing? I hope this wasn’t a party advertised on Facebook or an Airbnb rental. I hope he’s caught soon, and prosecuted to the fullest extent.
It was an air bnb rental for a party
What is a machine pistol?
A pistol capable of full automatic fire.
Morning, Jim. Again – we don’t want to get bogged down in nomenclature, but our information was that a MAC-10 – a very compact, open-bolt submachine gun with a multi-round stick magazine – may have been utilized. People often think they are seeing one type of weapon when it is in fact another – particularly when it is up and firing at them.
The owner (name withheld) said he rented it out to a woman through Airbnb for what the woman said would be a family reunion for a dozen people, according to San Francisco Chronicle.
To the owner – If someone is renting a very nice house on Halloween… they’re renting for a Halloween party. Please wise up.
To the Orinda City Council – I hope you’re proud of your “Airbnb rental decision.” This is the second time this has happened in Orinda. Wise up, or you will be voted out. And, yes – I’m ashamed of every single one of you. This is on YOU.
The Orinda City Council had acted and passed an ordinance in 2017 that would apply to this rental. Now they need to investigate and take action to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. They might need to “tighten” their ordinance to help prevent this situation from happening again.
The Orinda City Council needs to ban Airbnb – period. Or this will continue. Do you really think they can “stand guard” with every rental? The neighbors are horribly victimized as well. It’s time to pressure the Orinda City Council for the HORRIBLE decision they made. I hope they’re reading.
Attributing this heinous slaughter to Air BnB — and averting that a new law would prevent it from recurring — underscores our community’s collective naïveté and aloof indifference to widespread, chronic social ills.
California long ago banned automatic (and high capacity semi-automatic) handguns and nearly all automatic sub-machine guns. Indeed, mere possession risks felony charges and potentially years in prison.
Further, California and every other state prohibit intentional mass murder, and the facts described in the press thus far likely lend themselves to our most severe sanction, a special circumstances sentencing enhancement; i.e., capital punishment or LWOP.
Since the act (mass murder) and the apparent instrument (an automatic pistol) are illegal, believing that legislation targeting a commercial platform would immunize our community from malign conduct is nothing short of daft!
If it wasn’t for Airbnb, this party wouldn’t have taken place in Orinda. If it wasn’t for an irresponsible homeowner renting out to this woman, these party goers wouldn’t have showed up. The shooter was obviously after someone at the party, not the homeowner. If you can’t put the two together, you’re illogical.
THIS PARTY WAS BROUGHT INTO ORINDA. THE SHOOTER, AIRBNB, AN IRRESPONSIBLE HOMEOWNER AND THE WOMAN RENTING THE HOUSE ALL SHARE RESPONSIBILITY. AND SO DOES THE ORINDA CITY COUNCIL FOR NOT BANNING AIRBNB.
Like the shooter hangs out on Lucille. Get real.
Danielle – Your point of view is valued, the little personal shots are not. Please dial that down? Pretty Please?
Danielle – Fixating on AirBnB misses the point. At least five links in the tragic chain of events consist of conduct that is already illegal. Let’s work backwards:
1. Mass murder is unequivocally illegal, yet a mass murderer wantonly shot into a confined crowd.
2. Automatic weapons are illegal, yet the mass murderer wielded an automatic weapon.
3. Existing law prohibits loud, late night parties in that location (I lived at an adjacent property some years ago), yet there was still a loud party after 10 pm.
4. AirBnB’s contractual provisions and the hosts’ house rules likewise barred this sort of gathering, yet people gathered anyway.
5. Here, the AirBnB renter misled the hosts and held herself out as an evacuee displaced by the Kincade fire. That is fraud, which is unlawful, yet she committed fraud nonetheless.
How do you propose yet another law, “banning AirBnB,” would make anyone less inclined to commit the foregoing enumerated offenses?
Prudent policy must be narrowly tailored to effect the stated policy goal while avoiding unintended adversity and undue burden.
The proposed outright ban on short term rentals, if it could be enforced (which it cannot), would bar compassionate Orinda residents from hosting families displaced by disasters. I doubt anyone with a soul would support a law that overtly imposed such a ban on its face. An outright ban, with the goal of preventing mass slaughter, would nonetheless criminalize charitable hospitality while doing nothing to promote that goal.
Coog – apologize for horning in on your post to Danielle but one thing: we do not know if weapon used was automatic. Heard two shots on the video and could not discern if they were fired semi or automatically.
Dear Editor – Duly noted and thanks for clarifying. I inferred that a “MAC10 machine pistol” is an automatic weapon. Based on the number and rapidity of shots reported, I presume the magazine held more than the 10 rounds allowed under California law.
In any event, even if the weapon were legal, the shooting was not. Nor was the party, the gathering, or the fraudulent pretext underlying the transaction.
AirBnB’s involvement is little more than an attenuated coincidence.
Totally understood. Just don’t want to cement something in the public consciousness we haven’t confirmed. That weapon was named as the type used last night, HOWEVER, we have been to shooting scenes where people swore the weapon was an Uzi, or an “AK” and it turned out to be something totally different. The level of lethality inflicted is consistent with the type of gun mentioned, but we did not see it, law enforcement does not have it in their possession, and we cannot identify it on the basis of two shots heard on a video. Just trying to keep things level. Appreciate your posts and consideration…
My husband and I – compassionate residents of Orinda (despite my feistiness online) have hosted families displaced by disasters. We did it through our church, and we didn’t charge anyone. Society doesn’t need Airbnb to show “compassion.” Airbnb is “for profit.” You can also host families through organizations (besides a church) that are non-profit organizations. Airbnb is “for profit” and it’s very flaky.
Looks like Oakland crime came to Orinda again. And isnt it the same story all the time: ‘back through the tunnel and disappeared’
Crime that happens in Orinda is not “Oakland crime,” it is unequivocally Orinda crime.
Please, only in the broadest academic sense is this an “Orinda crime”, merely due to the fact that yes, the house is in Orinda.
But from a practical, living-in-reality sense which isn’t being held captive by the White Savior complex, this crime, from the party planners, to the attendees, and the shooter(s), is nothing more than pure, unadulterated, ghetto thug culture.
Go on, do a Google images search of the names on the flyer…then be honest with yourself.
Concluding that this was an “Orinda crime” is neither broad nor academic. On the contrary, it is specific and empirical.
Let’s consider the facts and live in reality:
1. Each of the five victims lived in a different community from one another;
2. None lived in Orinda.
3. All five victims were slaughtered within Orinda’s city limits.
4. Orinda now has the highest annualized YTD murder rate in the Bay Area (35+ per 100k residents; roughly 2x Oakland’s ~18 per 100k).
From these facts, we can reasonably infer that if these individuals remained in the less murder-prone communities that surround Orinda, they would be alive today.
Indeed, if five kids from Miramonte we’re indiscriminately mowed down in Oakland, zero people would argue that it was “not an Oakland crime.”
Yet so many of our neighbors inexplicably apply such convoluted reasoning to reassure themselves that mass shootings are a problem for “the others” and not for “locals.”
Thanks for your very measured response backed up with facts and data. I was tempted to just call the two previous commenters racists and be done with it. 🤣🤣🤣 your approach is much better
Additional information that I picked up from scouting the Internet is that the house is owned by Michael Wang, the it was previously owned by Curry (basketball star), the city of Orinda passed a law in 2017 pertaining to Airbrn rentals that would make last night’s rental illegal (due to Number of occupants, visitors, etc). Also a picture of the inside of the multimillion dollar house was posted but not confirmed. I would suggest to verify this information. I saved a picture of the inside of the house if you want to see it, but it is not confirmed.
This house was not previously owned by Steph Curry. Steph Curry lived at 140 Camino Sobrante. The home rented out on Lucille is owned by Michael Wang.
It does make a difference as to what type of picture you display. It is truth in reporting and thus anyone with a 9mm will now be thought of as having the ability to have automatic firing power and not semi automatic firing power. The guns are used for 2 entirely different reasons.
We’ve given our rationale here. If you can’t see it, understand it. Okay.
Are you daft? An automatic sub machine gun and a 9 mm semi-auto pistol are routinely used for precisely the same reason: to inflict immediate and grave bodily harm on human begins at relatively close range.
My cousin was one of the victims that got hurt please pray for my family thank you🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Naeemah – we hope your relative recovers swiftly. Was he/she able to shed any light on what happened in that house last night?
It was rented for $450 a night. A neighbor is saying he’s seen the home rented for parties before. This guest has been banned from Airbnb. If you’re renting out your home on Airbnb, or renting an Airbnb elsewhere you’re part of the problem. You’re enabling this horrific problem to continue. It’s a home, not a hotel.
I agree with Danielle. My neighbors used to Airbnb their place and it was unsettling with strangers coming and going, you have no idea who they are
Also, owner Michael Wang was seeing many more than a dozen people show up on the doorbell cam app. Should have reacted immediately. I wonder too what the renter’s review history was on AirBnB.
Yes, he should have acted immediately. He probably knew darn well renting out on Halloween was for a Halloween party, and he’s trying to cover his tracks. He should be billed for all local agencies involved. He needs to be held accountable, and pay restitution.
As far as the renter’s review history, he probably didn’t care. If he did, he wouldn’t have rented out to a “Mansion Party.”
No you don’t blame the victim. Airbnb is to blame; the renter should have been held responsible and the fact Airbnb won’t verify their customers is why criminals can get away with this
Liz – Criminals killed people for thousands of years before Air BnB. Why is it suddenly incumbent on an e-commerce technology vendor to prevent murder? Pray expound.
Jeez, Coug, you own a piece of AirBnB. The two worst crimes in the town in the past decade were at short term rentals. Coincidence? Hardly. AirBnB kills many neighborhoods. Residents all over Kauai are fed up. AirBnB availability just lowered the property value of a whole neighborhood. I hope Orinda’s leadership wises up and kicks the biz concept to the gutter before a third violent incident occurs. Short term rentals cost society too much for the enrichment of absentee owners.
Orinda leadership does need to wise up and “kick the biz concept to the gutter.” I read elsewhere that they can’t address it at Tuesday night’s council meeting because it “violates the Brown Act.”
Airbnb does kill neighborhoods (everywhere) and I’m not backing down. Some of us actually have a BACKBONE.
If Orinda had strong leadership (like Danville – that banned short term rentals) this wouldn’t have occurred. Residents EVERYWHERE are fed up with Airbnb.
The renter has been cited in the past by the city, once for over capacity in his mansion, once for massive amounts of cars parked up around his known party house. He should have been watching what was going in and out of the front door. (There’s an app for that)
The renter has been cited in the past, and the neighbors are well aware of his “disruptive parties.” He’s now blaming Airbnb, his wife (she handles the Airbnb rentals) and he’s refusing to take any responsibility. The more he talks, the more he’s burying himself. Who he should be talking to is a lawyer.
@Danielle – I find your ranting about AirBnB to be sensational, misinformed, hysterical, and incredibly inaccurate. I use AirBnB a lot. For ski trips to Tahoe, to Pacific Grove for a weekend at the Monterey aquarium, a trip to Seattle a few weekends ago. Casting a general blanket due to this one incident is incredibly naive and sensational. To date, there have been 2 incidents in Orinda with AirBnB involved out of an unknown amount of normal (no incidence) stays at local AirBnBs. A very low percentage of problems
Tim- I couldn’t care less what you think of my opinion. I couldn’t care less if you use Airbnb. If you want to make excuses for your Airbnb use after FOUR murders, several injuries, and a man who was in a coma in 2016 in Orinda, that’s on you.
Airbnb horror stories are EVERYWHERE. And I believe in freedom of speech.
Wow. Just… Wow.
Are you going to post the video?
Bonnie – we have reviewed this video and up until the shooting starts it depicts a boisterous party with people dancing and smoking. Only two shots can be heard before the videographer breaks away, presumably to run for cover… aside from the sound of the initial gunfire it adds nothing substantive to the story.
Gentle Readers: This story has generated intense interest, as we knew it would. PLEASE refrain from off-topic diatribes and all the usual bad things that make web sites delete your comments. Thank you. Ed.
Gee, News24-680, you’ve started a fire here in Lamorinda! I’ve never seen your posters so inflamed! You’re hotter than PG&E 🙂
BTW, the party promoter, per flyer, was :Tonecapone300. You can do a Google search for images/of pics this upstanding gentleman.
What does that one guy say on the video???? You **** can’t get through one night without mudering someone? Did I hear that right?
It should be said that once again this news site was the ONLY place I could come to find out about a MASS SHOOTING in my area. OFFICIAL news released THE NEXT DAY only repeated what this site had been saying all night long.
I would prefer news outlets not resort to stock photos, just as I prefer they not use stock quotes. Stay real.
A reader with a deft command of the language just replied to this post in a most astute but – just a weeeee bit personal – manner so we had to strike it but to that person: thanks!
You guys were dancing all alone out there again weren’t you????
It has always been where we do our best work!
Since my prior post was suppressed for a reason I can’t fathom, I will use simpler words. “Us good”. “Them, not so much”. The popular judgment seems to be that we are not one people. I think my earlier post had more nuance, though.
“The Halloween Night shooting is the second violent incident involving an Airbnb home being used as a party location in Orinda.”
If memory serves, the Camino Encinas incident involved a host and applicant who deliberately circumvented the Airbnb contract by coming to a private rental agreement outside of Airbnb. If correct, it seems unfair to keep describing that as an Airbnb rental. If correct, that was a private transaction, and you should state so and not impugn a company that was not a party to the rental agreement.
If a Wells Fargo customer walks into Wells Fargo, past the greeter at the door and the free coffee at the welcome station and hands the teller a note demanding an unauthorized withdrawal, who can rightly blame Wells Fargo for the attempted robbery? Robbery is outside of their agreement for services.
But wait, there’s more…banks don’t invite crime into our predominantly white affluent neighborhoods like Airbnb rentals do. Ooops! We have more banks and ATMs per street corner than neighboring poorer communities because we are where the money is. And why do robbers rob banks?…”because that’s where the money is”. No one blames the banks for any ATM holdups in our communities. No one blames Safeway for offering Tide and baby formula for sale despite the frequent thefts of those items which adds to increased costs for the rest of us and anxiety for the employees. Yet, somehow, Airbnb is singled out for bringing crime to our protected space. I understand that these rentals can sometimes pose problems, but these protests are over the top. Airbnb provides a service that many, many of us value.
Airbnb is nothing but trouble. It’s a FACT.
Missuse of the word “fact.”
Merriam-Webster defines “fact” as “something that has actual existence”, “an actual occurrence”, or “a piece of information presented as having objective reality.”
The expansive, absolutist phrase “nothing but” categorically forecloses any possibility that others may find redeeming qualities in AirBnB.
While I have no opinion in that vein nor any pecuniary interest in the company whatsoever, I am not so arrogant as to believe that others may view AirBnB as something other than “trouble.” Indeed, your contention is easily refuted by their platform’s popularity and ubiquity.
Your statement is therefore an “opinion,” which Merriam-Webster defines as “a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.” You are of course entitled to your opinion, but absolutist characterizations, such as “nothing but” and “its a fact,” impugn your opinion’s credibility.
A more appropriate contention would be that in your view “AirBnB’s business model entails externalities that our community must seek to mitigate.” That would be a defensible view, though one with which I disagree. The problem here is murder and violence, not a coincidental attenuated third party commercial enterprise.
My own “personal opinion” is just that – my opinion. The murders, rapes, and other “actual occurrences” are FACTS. Airbnb is well aware of their history. And it needs to be outlawed. If you want to use Airbnb, and try to hide it, I see right though it. You’re not fooling me.
Lets get together for Halloween, get our party on, have a few laughs…..
Looking forward to seeing the Caldecott Caltrans Traffic Monitoring/Security footage from their cameras to see if the fleeing coward and associated minions can be seen racing through at approximately that reported time.
Seems gang related. https://sfist.com/2019/11/05/police-explore-link-between-2014-hayes-valley/
Mmm, possibly. Memories can be long. And it’s not far outside the realm of possibility that groups of people either directly involved or merely associating with people involved in a criminal enterprise interact, overlap, and come into lethal contact from time to time. The critical bits of information are of course, currently in the hands of police. But if the gunman or gunmen was targeting one or two individuals that night, their approach led to a significant amount of collateral damage.
Has there been ANY official update on this case??
Nothing we’ve gotten thus far, Brinn.