Zoey Sanchez-Reveal was asleep in her bed beside her husband and three-year-old daughter when she heard gunshots early Sunday morning.
“My body was pumping adrenaline at an unimaginable rate,” she said.
Sanchez-Reveal said she later found a bullet hole in the window above the daybed in her daughter’s playroom — a room where she and her daughter often sleep.
The family lives in the Oakwood Glen neighborhood in Plano where there was a shooting during a party at a short-term rental. She and members of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition Plano Chapter spoke at Monday’s city council meeting to ask the council to immediately ban short-term rentals.
She was one of several residents in the neighborhood who shared harrowing stories about a shooting outside a short-term rental in Plano during Monday’s city council meeting. The city council took no action on short-term rentals but Mayor John Muns said the issue would be on the agenda for the council’s first meeting in April.
Muns said the city council is working toward a solution on short-term rentals.
“We’re very sorry about what happened last weekend, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that never happens again,” he said.
Plano police said no one was injured during the shooting but two arrests were made. Police said the investigation is ongoing and it’s unknown if those suspects were involved.
James Horton was arrested at the scene for evading arrest and for possession of marijuana. Collin County jail records show that Horton, 24, was released on Monday. A woman identified as Trinity Banks was also arrested for interfering with the public duties of a peace officer. Police say Banks also allegedly damaged a patrol car. Collin County jail records show Banks was also released Monday.
The coalition said the property was listed on Airbnb but has been removed from the rental site. Plano police chief Ed Drain said at the city council meeting that the property was also listed on VRBO. He said both sites have removed the property while they investigate the incident.
Airbnb said in an email to KERA that there wasn’t a reservation at that address over the weekend. The short-term rental company said there were reservation attempts made on their website that were blocked by the company’s screening technologies that are designed to prevent parties.
Luis Briones from Airbnb said in a previous interview with KERA that Airbnb has a strict policy against parties. Briones, a public policy manager for the travel rental site, said they have technology in place to stop parties before they occur.
“When incidents do occur, we work with local stakeholders,” Briones said.
Sunday’s incident is about three miles from the short-term rental where Plano police made arrests related to sex-trafficking in September. Police said they don’t believe the two incidents are related.
Airbnb confirmed in September that incident wasn’t at an Airbnb.
The Plano council tabled a vote on an ordinance in November that would require short-term rentals to register their properties with the city and face fines if they violate the ordinance. The council tabled the vote on the ordinance after the Texas Neighborhood Coalition sent an email that said the ordinance would violate current city ordinances.
The coalition claims the city’s current zoning ordinance — which bans hotels in residential areas and requires land and building use in residential areas to fall under purposes listed in the ordinance — already bans short-term rentals.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
Caroline Love is a Report For Americacorps member for KERA News.
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