No arrests yet nearly one year after Easter Sunday Airbnb mass shooting in Pittsburgh
Nearly one year after a fatal mass shooting at an Airbnb in Pittsburgh's East Allegheny neighborhood, no arrests have been made in the investigation.
Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reached out to Pittsburgh Public Safety Sunday to inquire about the status of the investigation, but the request for comment was not returned.
"I feel very sorry for everyone that lost someone that day," said Richard Mignella, who was inside a bar across the street from the Airbnb when the shooting happened.
Pittsburgh police said at the time that about 200 people were at a party at the Airbnb when shots rang out early on the morning of April 17, 2022. Of the 11 people shot, two were killed. Jaiden Brown and Matthew Steffy-Ross, both 17, were weeks away from graduating high school.
More: Timeline of the Easter 2022 Airbnb shooting in Pittsburgh
Mignella said he remembers hearing the gunshots.
"I asked the bartender to lock the doors," Mignella said. "No one in, no one out."
Mignella was back at the same bar Sunday. Across the street, a new tenant was inside the building that he knows has an infamous past.
"Just like people, I think properties can hold onto their trauma," Gary Thynes said. "There were a few dark emotions I guess when I moved in, but everything's been calm."
Thynes said he moved into the building at the corner of Madison Avenue and Suismon Street in November, months after the shooting. He learned about what had happened during the rental application process.
"That was part of the catalyst for me moving into the building," Thynes said. "Trying to take something bad and transform it into something positive."
In the wake of last Easter's shooting, City Council member Bobby Wilson proposed legislation that would provide more stringent regulations on short-term rentals.
He shared a statement with Pittsburgh's Action News 4:
"Since last year's Easter Sunday mass shooting on the Northside, my office has been working to create a Short-Term Rental Registry that would strengthen public safety, preserve the quality of life of our neighborhoods, and prevent future tragedies from occurring at short-term rental properties in the City of Pittsburgh. Following the guidance of the City of Pittsburgh's Law Department, my office drafted legislation that closely follows City Council's previously enacted Rental Registry ordinance. Our hope was that the courts would allow the City to proceed with implementing this registry, and shortly thereafter, City Council could pass my bill to add a special class of rental properties to this registry: short-term rentals like those you can find on Airbnb, Vrbo, and other platforms."
The legislation has not been passed. Last month, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued a ruling that struck down the city's existing Rental Registry Program.
In the rest of his statement Sunday, Wilson explained that the ruling has hindered his efforts to push through his proposal:
"Unfortunately, the Commonwealth Court's recent and unexpected ruling against the City's proposed Rental Registry program has also pushed us back to the drawing board on creating a Short-Term Rental Registry ordinance. We do not want to pass an ordinance that will waste our lawyers' valuable time in court and may well get struck down because it resembles the prior Rental Registry ordinance. As a result, I recently asked Council to place a three-month hold on my proposed legislation while my office works hand-in-hand with the Law Department, the Office of Mayor Gainey, and fellow Councilmembers to thoroughly revise this legislation so that it can withstand legal challenges and be implementable on Day 1."
Last May, Pittsburgh police identified a man who was depicted in pictures that authorities said were connected to the Airbnb shooting. That man's identity has not been released, and notably, Pittsburgh police never described the man as a "suspect" or "person of interest."