2nd victim sues Airbnb over North Side mass shooting

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A second victim filed a lawsuit against Airbnb after a shooting on the North Side on Easter weekend took the lives of two teenagers and wounded eight others. 

Dejonia Rosser broke her leg jumping from a second-floor window. Her attorney says this party never should have happened. 

After gunfire erupted on that terror-filled night, two young people would be left dead and eight others wounded, including Rosser, now 19, who on Wednesday filed suit against Airbnb, the owners of the property and the firm that booked the space for the raucous party.

"She went to a party not knowing that there would be gunfire and the other things that happened and she made the best effort she could to save herself," said attorney George Kontos.

In hopes of evading bullets, Kontos says she jumped from a second-floor window, shattering her leg.

"She's undergone multiple surgeries. She has plates and screws in her body that will remain there. She still has trouble walking and may have a long road ahead of her in terms of pain and other issues," Kontos said. 

At the time, Airbnb had a temporary ban on parties in its short-term rentals which it made permanent two months after the Pittsburgh shootings and in a statement then indicated responsibility falls on the organizers of the event.

"Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence," Airbnb said in a statement after the shooting. "The booking guest has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb and we will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable."

"This is in fact what went out on social media and was available, which is the flyer that was readily available," Kontos said. 

The suit and Kontos contend the event had advertised the sale of alcohol on flyers and on social media and Airbnb knew or should have known it was happening and that parties like it were likely to end badly. The suit cites seven such violent incidents prior to the Easter weekend melee on the North Side. 

"They really had a policy in name only," Kontos said. "It was window dressing. They technically had a policy but they didn't enforce it."

This is the second civil suit naming Airbnb but it will likely not be the last. In June a woman who was shot in the leg also sued Airbnb. 

No one has been arrested.