DAVENPORT, Fla. — A 1-year-old child's birthday abruptly ended after shots were fired outside an Airbnb rental in Davenport over the weekend, leading to an Orlando man being killed and a Sanford woman hurt.
During a news conference Monday afternoon, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd explained how a family rented a house on Robin Road in unincorporated Davenport to celebrate the birthday and invited family over.
The family got to the house Friday night and spent time setting up for the party before it started around 3 p.m. the next day. It wasn't until around 12:30 a.m. Sunday when the shooting occurred.
According to Judd, the 27-year-old man went outside early in the morning with two plates of food to give to a car that pulled up to the house.
After delivering the food, the man was reportedly shot when he started to walk back toward the house. He was knocked down by the bullets but jumped up to get back into the house while the car drove away, the sheriff said.
But this is when the car, which Judd suspects two people were inside, reversed and backed up to the house again. The passenger then reportedly got out of the car and fired more bullets toward the 27-year-old, ultimately striking a 26-year-old woman through the front door who was reacting to the gunshots.
After the shooting stopped, the 27-year-old man, who was hit several times, was dragged inside the home, Judd said.
The car's driver allegedly drove back toward the Orlando area and made sure to throw out the plates of food before leaving the neighborhood.
The man and woman were taken to Osceola Regional Medical Center following the shooting. The man was later declared dead, and the woman was treated for a gunshot wound to the thigh and released.
"He died despite our best efforts and Polk Fire's best efforts to save his life at [the hospital]," Judd said. "So we need the community's help.
"We're going to work diligently until we find out who murdered these people."
There is a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
Anyone with information about the shooting can contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office at 863-298-6200. To remain anonymous, call 1-800-226-8477 or dial **TIPS from your phone.
In a statement to 10 Tampa Bay, Airbnb offered condolences to the family and clarified that the party was unauthorized.
"Our deepest condolences go out to all who were impacted by this senseless violence. We are investigating this incident, and have also reached out to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to offer our support with their investigation," the statement read.
"We can confirm this was an unauthorized party, meaning the host was not aware and did not consent to it. We deploy a number of measures and resources to tackle disruptive and unauthorized parties, which are banned on Airbnb," the company wrote.