SAN ANTONIO — Northside homeowners are shaken after an intoxicated Airbnb guest tried to enter several homes in the middle of the night.
It happened on Wednesday near Vance Jackson Road and Callaghan Road.
Darlene didn’t want to be publicly identified because of the activity she’s seen at the short-term rental located in the 9200 block of Rustlers Creek Drive. She recalls being jolted out of her sleep around 3 a.m. on September 11.
“Two men were just mumbling and acting crazing and trying to get into my home,” said Darlene. “My husband called 911 and he was on the phone with the dispatcher. I didn’t see them, so I assumed they had left. When the officer showed up and we opened the garage door, they had been leaning on my garage, so they fell in. The officer went up and nonchalantly asked them where they were supposed to be and they said the Airbnb’s address.”
The two men are heard telling the officer they are "not from San Antonio." The officer is then seen escorting them back to the short-term rental.
Later that morning, one of the men was captured again on surveillance video trying to get into other homes about a mile away. This time, he was shirtless and seemingly confused.
“It was about 3:50 in the morning and we saw that our outdoor lights were on,” said Camilla. “There was a lot of noise, so my husband got up to check the back porch and he saw a man standing right on the other side of the sliding door trying to open it. The outside furniture was all tossed and turned -- it was all over the place. My husband called 911 and we kept watching the man from our living room. He was just completely angry, destroying property, trying to break railings and pull out bulbs from our string lights. We could tell that he wasn’t mentally there; either high or drunk.”
Camilla later learned the man had broken in through a portion of her backyard fence.
Residents say the man entered an 82-year-old neighbor’s home before officers caught up to him. The senior allegedly awoke to a stranger standing over his bed, saying he was "lost."
Darlene believes the Airbnb property owner is to blame. Even though the listing claims to “respect their neighbors,” Darlene feels anything but respected.
“Guns, big parties,” she said. “This last incident, the Airbnb guests were trying to get into my home and urinated on my porch. I’m having to deal with constant noise, constant strangers living next door, which is very unsettling.”
Darlene says it’s been five years of sleepless nights since the listing went up.
“I feel like they don’t care because they don’t live next to the Airbnb,” she said. “I didn’t work my whole life to live in a decent neighborhood where I would have this kind of situation. At this point, it’s emotionally scarring.”
San Antonio police identified the suspect as Bryan Anthony Mathis, 25, and said he was charged with public intoxication and criminal mischief. However, KENS 5 could not find any record of the arrest.
Both neighbors felt their concerns were dismissed by the responding officers.
Airbnb said it’s looking into the rental property. We also reached out to the owner and property manager for comment, and are waiting to hear back.