Massive party at short-term rental in Phoenix ends with gunfire
PHOENIX - A Phoenix neighborhood was woken up by gunfire, and neighbors say it happened at a short-term rental while a party was going on.
They've had enough.
Neighbors say there have been multiple issues with massive parties at the home since the new owners bought it three years ago. They say this latest one is the most disturbing.
The homeowner behind the backyard says she's called the police about 80 times in the last three years since this became a rental property.
Sarah Lauterbach and her husband live directly behind the home where a massive party was reported to Phoenix Police overnight by multiple neighbors near Tatum Boulevard and Bell Road.
"We were woken up around 4:30, 4:40 with the sound of gunshots," Lauterbach said.
Phoenix Police say although shots were fired, no one was injured.
"I woke up and my husband woke up. I said, 'Oh, that's a car backfiring.' My husband said, 'No it's not. That is a shooting,'" another neighbor said.
Ring video captured audio of the shooting. More videos were taken by neighbors in the community who are up in arms over the events that have been unfolding at this rental home.
"There's been fights, there's been strippers, there's been just countless things happening. A guy urinated over our fence while our daughter was swimming in the pool with us when they had a bachelor party," Lauterbach said.
After a long night with not much sleep, Lauterbach says she's on edge and in a constant state of worry for her young daughter.
"These houses, there's eight behind us within a one-mile radius that sleep 22 or more. They're positioning themselves and marketing themselves as party homes in neighborhoods with families with children, and it's not a safe environment," she said.
FOX 10 reached out to the property management company for a statement.
A lawyer for the property management company said in a statement, in full, "We unequivocally deny that any shooting took place at the short term rental property. We reserve further comment until the results of the police investigation are finalized."
As for the neighbors, they want laws changed so that short-term rentals can't exist in these areas.
Map of where the shooting happened: