Police said one man died and two others were hurt outside a house in the Belvedere Park area.
DECATUR, Ga. — A deadly shooting outside a DeKalb County house party early Tuesday pushed investigators to examine not only who opened fire, but also how a birthday gathering came to be held at a home that had previously been listed on Airbnb.
The case became more than a routine overnight shooting because it unfolded at a property tied to short-term rental activity, raising questions about who organized the event, who controlled the house that night and what happened in the moments before shots were fired. DeKalb County police said officers responded around 2 a.m. to the 3100 block of Bluebird Lane and found three shooting victims outside the home. Antonio Hardrick, 20, of Clayton County later died at a hospital, the county medical examiner said. Two other men were injured. By Tuesday afternoon, police had not announced arrests, and Airbnb said the house was not rented through its platform that night.
That left investigators and the public with two overlapping story lines. One is the homicide investigation itself. The other is the setting: a private residence that witnesses and local news outlets described as the site of a birthday party, and in some reports a rental property. Police said the shooting happened outside the home, not inside it, after officers were sent there during the early-morning hours. Witness Candace Taylor told Atlanta News First she had attended the gathering for her best friend’s 22nd birthday. “People left, and then shots started going off,” Taylor said, describing the sudden break between the end of the party and the start of the violence. WSB also reported witness accounts that the home was being used for a party and that investigators placed evidence markers around a vehicle in the driveway while processing the scene. Hours after sunrise, officers were still working behind crime scene tape.
The property’s rental history added a layer of scrutiny, but not many firm answers. Atlanta News First reported that the home had previously been listed on Airbnb. The company told the station it was not rented through Airbnb on Monday night, and the listing was no longer visible Tuesday. That statement ruled out one narrow possibility, but it did not explain who had access to the house or whether the gathering had been arranged through another booking platform, a direct rental agreement, a private event arrangement or by someone with personal access to the property. WSB identified the home as a rental property and said the homeowner confirmed it was listed on Airbnb. Those details place the home at the center of the public conversation, yet they do not establish a cause of the shooting. Police have not said the gathering itself violated any ordinance, and they have not indicated whether the house’s use as a party venue is being examined as part of the criminal case.
On the core facts of the shooting, officials were measured and spare. DeKalb County police said three men were shot outside the home. Hardrick died of his injuries, while the other two men were hospitalized with what police described as moderate injuries. Investigators had not publicly described a suspect, a vehicle, a weapon type used in the shooting or any known dispute before the gunfire. Local reporting from the scene suggested at least one gun was found near the home, and WSB said officers appeared to recover two guns, but police had not publicly explained whether those weapons were fired, discarded or tied to victims, guests or a suspected shooter. That gap is significant. Without a public account of who possessed which weapon, it remained impossible Tuesday to know whether detectives were investigating an ambush, a confrontation among partygoers, return fire or some other sequence entirely.
The neighborhood context also shaped the response. Bluebird Lane sits in the Belvedere Park area off Columbia Drive, a residential setting where late-night gatherings can quickly draw broad attention once patrol cars, evidence vans and police tape arrive. Video and witness reports described detectives canvassing the front lawn and porch area with flashlights as the scene remained active for hours. For nearby residents, the question was not only who fired the shots, but whether the violence was connected to the crowd at the house or to someone approaching from outside. Taylor’s account suggested the shooting began as people were leaving, a detail that may matter if investigators are trying to determine whether the gunfire followed an argument, targeted specific people or came from someone who arrived after the event began winding down. Police had not confirmed any of those possibilities by Tuesday.
The legal path ahead is likely to depend on evidence that was still being gathered. In a case like this, detectives would be expected to compare witness statements, review any camera footage from the property or nearby homes, trace firearms recovered at the scene and test shell casings to determine whether more than one weapon was fired. None of those results had been made public. Police had not announced homicide charges or identified a person of interest, and no court filing had been released Tuesday that would show an arrest warrant request. The department was seeking public help, according to local outlets, including tips that could be submitted anonymously. The next official steps will probably be a police update on suspects or arrests and, if the case moves forward, charging documents that explain what investigators believe happened in the minutes after the party started to clear out.
For now, the strongest public image of the case is the contrast between what the house was meant to host and what it became. A home used for a birthday gathering became a homicide scene before dawn. A 20-year-old man is dead, two other men are recovering, and basic facts that would explain the shooting remain unsettled. The property itself may continue to draw attention because of its rental history, but the investigation still turns on more basic questions: who was outside, who had a gun and why shots were fired at all.
As of Tuesday night, police had confirmed the death of Antonio Hardrick and said two others were hurt, but they had not announced arrests or a motive. The next milestone is a public investigative update that clarifies both the shooting timeline and who controlled the home that night.
Author note: Last updated March 11, 2026.