Jackson house party: Cops spent nearly five hours breaking up party of over 700 people

JACKSON - Police spent nearly five hours Sunday night and into early Monday breaking up a house party with more than 700 attendees, according to a statement from the Jackson Police Department.

At around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Jackson police responded to a house on Mill Pond Road in the Whispering Hill neighborhood off of Leesville Road on the report of a suspicious incident, according to the statement.

After speaking to neighborhood residents, police said they found a large crowd at the home eventually the crowd "grew to an estimate excess of 700 people with well over 100 vehicles parked in the area," according to the statement.

The owner of the house was contacted and he told officers that he had "rented out the residence on Airbnb and was hosting a large party," according to the statement. As the crowd continued to grow, police said the homeowner left the area, as "200 additional people arrived at the residence and the party began to expand."

Word of the party grew on social media platforms including Instagram.

A flyer advertised on Instagram billed the event as a Liberian Independence Day party complete with a twerking contest and free food and jungle juice.

Videos on Instagram show people dancing, drinking and smoking what appears to be hookah inside the mansion.

The party caught the attention of Gov. Phil Murphy and State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan who both mentioned it during Murphy's COVID-19 press conference in Trenton.

"C'mon folks. C'mon," Murphy said. “We're begging you to please be responsible at your own home if you’re having a gathering. Don’t congregate indoors."

Murphy said partygoers could endanger police, “needlessly putting men and women in uniform and their personal health and their family's health at risk.”

“I do think the fact that bars and restaurants are closed then creates this quote-unquote underground situation," Callahan said, "which is certainly not one that we want because young people — even if you’re asymptomatic and you’re positive — the fact that you can transmit that your family members is certainly one that concerns us.”

The homeowner, Yaakov Weiss, 40, of Jackson and two party organizers — Patience Guanue, 23 and Alicia Hinneh, 22, both of Newark — were issued summonses related to the party for violating Murphy's executive order limiting the number of people who can gather in one place, according to a statement from the Jackson Police Department.

The party's organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We strongly condemn the reported behavior, which represents both a clear violation of Airbnb’s community policies and a particularly serious abuse during this public health crisis," said Ben Brait, an Airbnb spokesman, in a prepared statement. The company said it removed the party organizers from its platform and deactivated the listing pending further investigation. 

As the crowd continued to grow, Jackson police began receiving 911 calls from other homeowners in the area reporting disturbances and trespassing, according to the statement.

To disperse the crowd, Jackson Police received help from police in Freehold, Howell, Lakewood, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department and New Jersey State Police, according to the statement.

While clearing the area, police received a 911 call from a neighborhood resident who said people who had left the Mill Pond Road party had broken into their residence and were damaging property. But police said they determined it was a family member of the caller who had been at the original party and invited people back to his house. Police responded and cleared the house.

It took until approximately 1 a.m. for the officers to clear the residences of the party attendees and all of the vehicles from the neighborhood without any further incidents, according to the statement.

The investigation is continuing and Jackson Code Enforcement was also notified of the incident so they could follow up.  

"It's upsetting because we live in a really quiet neighborhood," said Mill Pond Road resident Karen Levine. "We have parties, but this was something out of the ordinary."

Keith Schubert is the morning breaking news reporter. He can be contacted via text, call or signal at (732) 239-8731 or emailed at kschubert@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @keithsch94.