unlock 2025

Christmas party shooting rekindles fight over ‘party house’ rentals

By , Daily Memphian Published: December 31, 2025 4:00 AM CT

What was billed as a “Christmas Pajama Party” in East Memphis could be the latest chapter in a long-running debate about how to regulate short-term rental properties in the city.

The Dec. 20 party at 222 Grove Dale St. off South Yates Road ended abruptly shortly before midnight. Neighbors had reported the large gathering of people, both inside and outside the house, before gunfire broke out and a man was shot.


How short-term rentals like Airbnbs are regulated


The man, whose name has still not been released by the Memphis Police Department, died later from his injuries.

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Philip Spinosa Jr Memphis City Council short-term rentals

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Bill Dries

Bill Dries

Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.

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