Police responded to noise complaint at Pittsburgh Airbnb 90 minutes before shooting

Pittsburgh police officers responded to an Airbnb party at a North Side home for a noise complaint just 90 minutes before a shooting left two teenage boys dead and eight other partygoers injured by gunfire.

Pittsburgh police on Monday confirmed that officers had been called to the scene for a noise complaint around 11 p.m. Saturday.

Spokeswoman Cara Cruz said officers asked the man who answered the door to get the homeowner. A man who identified himself as the homeowner met police at the door, but “the habitable and visible part of the house where the party was held is on the second floor, out of view of the door,” Cruz said.

Authorities have said at least 200 people, many of them underage, were at the party.

Cruz said officers asked the man to turn down the music, and he complied. She said officers told the man that if they were called to the address again, they would shut down the party. She said there were no more noise complaints after that.

The shooting started just before 12:40 a.m., according to recordings of police radio transmissions. Shortly after police were dispatched to the shooting scene, an officer noted on the air, “Be advised, there is a very large party at that 900 Madison Ave. that we checked earlier.”

Authorities have identified the boys who were killed as Mathew Steffy-Ross, of Pitcairn, and Jaiden Brown, a student at Woodland Hills High School. Both were 17.

Stephen Long Sr. leases the other part of the property at 900 Madison Ave. He said he’s had guests complain about noise from the other unit before, but “nothing of this nature.”

He said the guests staying in his unit Saturday night messaged him and said the noise from the party was out of control. They said they called 911 and, ultimately, decided to leave. Long said he couldn’t imagine the noise could be so bad that it would force them out.

“I’m just glad they got out of there when they decided to get out of there,” he said.

He said his unit sustained damage – doors were kicked in and several windows had bullet holes in them, he said.

A neighbor, Mitchell Wilston, said that by 11 p.m. Saturday – about the same time police responded to the noise complaint – the area was crowded with cars and people were lined up outside to get into the party.

He noted the police presence but said there were no efforts to break up the party.

“It was mayhem,” he said.