Family Of Orinda Halloween Shooting Victim Calls Out Airbnb CEO Over Tweets
ORINDA (CBS SF) -- Lawyers representing the family of one of the victims in the Halloween mass shooting at an Airbnb party house in Orinda released a statement Thursday criticizing recent social media posts by the company's CEO.
Representatives for the Mitchell Law Firm, which is representing the family of Orinda shooting victim Raymon Hill, Jr. issued the press release addressing the recent tweets from the company and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.
Hill was among the five shooting victims killed in a shooting at a Halloween party held at an Airbnb property in the Orinda hills.
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The statement said that while the family had been intending to grieve privately, "recent statements by Airbnb have compelled them to respond to certain escalating falsehoods including the tweets sent out yesterday by the CEO of Airbnb."
CEO Brian Chesky tweeted on Nov. 2that Airbnb "was working to support the families" of the Orinda incident.
The law firm's statement takes exception to this, stating "that in no way has Airbnb done anything to support the family of Mr. Hill." The statement mentions that the Hill family tried to contact Airbnb about the company paying for some of the unexpected funeral expenses, but were completely ignored.
"They haven't even reached out to apologize," the statement continued. "They have merely responded in public with platitudes and thoughts and prayers or have made nebulous promises to 'do better' and 'improve trust.'"
The statement goes on to question the promises being made by Chesky and Airbnb it its Twitter posts. "These are promises that could and should have been made before these senseless deaths," the statement read. "They want the public to see that this avoidable tragedy would have been clearly foreseeable but for the dollar signs obstructing the view of Airbnb and the homeowners."
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The press release blames "the homeowners, hosts and Airbnb, as well as the city and the police" in being complicit with the operation of what it called "essentially unregulated nightclubs" without rules or regulations.
Airbnb representatives released a statement Thursday afternoon responding some of the claims contained in the press release that read as follows:
"Following the tragedy in Orinda, we reached out to the city to provide Airbnb's support, including offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator, and we remain in communication with Orinda PD to fully cooperate with their investigation. We have set aside funds to support the victims' loved ones with funeral expenses and counseling services, and we have been in contact with those representing Mr. Hill's family in this regard."
A company spokesperson later clarified that they had reached out to the family and their legal team on Thursday.
