El Cajon police broke up a sprawling Halloween house party in the Bostonia neighborhood Saturday night, with more than 100 guests packing a short-term rental before officers moved in around 9 p.m. No one was injured and no arrests were made, though the sheer size of the crowd was enough to draw extra law enforcement to the scene.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the house had been rented on El Rey Avenue near Second Avenue through the VRBO lodging app. The newspaper's account, drawing on police information, says the party was broken up about 9 p.m. Saturday with no injuries and no arrests reported.
A conflicting account from Noticias SD put the crowd far larger, saying between 200 and 300 teenagers gathered at a Halloween party on Hart Drive at a property rented through Airbnb. The Spanish-language outlet did not specify whether anyone was arrested or injured. NBC 7 San Diego also covered the chaos, describing the scene in a video report headlined “I could feel the whole house shake,” as NBC 7 San Diego put it.
Sheriff's Backup and a Drone Overhead
The scale of the gathering prompted El Cajon to request help from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, according to Noticias SD's report on the operation. Authorities also deployed a drone to monitor the rental property from above while the response unfolded, the same outlet reported.
Once officers arrived on scene, the crowd didn't wait around. Attendees began dispersing as soon as police showed up, per the Noticias SD account, bringing the gathering to a close without the standoff some similar incidents have produced.
A Neighborhood With a Painful History
Short-term-rental parties have been a recurring headache — and worse — in El Cajon. In October 2023, police responding to multiple 911 calls arrived at a party on Mahogany Drive to find people fleeing a short-term-rental property, according to the Union-Tribune's earlier reporting. That night ended with two people dead: a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man, both killed by gunfire, the paper reported.
Weeks later, El Cajon police arrested Bruce Luu, 21, and Dan Nalab, 24, both of San Diego, in connection with the shooting deaths, the Union-Tribune reported. Investigators said automated license plate readers helped them identify the getaway vehicle used in the attack. A separate house party tied to an Airbnb rental in unincorporated El Cajon also turned deadly in April 2023, when a 20-year-old man and another man were killed by gunfire, according to a report from CBS 8.
Saturday's party ended without violence, but it adds to a pattern city officials have acknowledged is difficult to manage. El Cajon's own guidance for residents dealing with problem rentals notes that regular law enforcement interaction with tenants is often not realistic, though the city says periodic meetings between tenants and law enforcement can help address long-term solutions, according to a policy page published by the City of El Cajon.
