Redfin closes 4 Bay Area offices after suspected gun threat

Four Bay Area offices of the Redfin real estate agency were closed for at least part of this past week after a former contractor made what the company described as an implied threat about shooting some company employees.

Seattle-based Redfin said the incident occurred Aug. 9, when a former company contractor allegedly made threatening comments over the phone to a manager of one Bay Area office. In a statement given to this news organization, Maryam Sughayer, Redfin’s vice president of communications, said the company closed four offices in response to the call.

“We took swift action and worked closely with law enforcement to ensure the safety of our employees and agents,” Sughayer said. “We are separately pursuing every available legal remedy.”

Sughayer said the four offices included one in San Francisco and three others in the region. She said the San Francisco office reopened this week, and the remaining Redfin’s branches should reopen early next week, with additional security measures in place.

Aside from the office in San Francisco, Sughayer didn’t say where the other Redfin offices that had been closed were located.

However, according a report from KGO-TV, Pleasanton police said the fired Redfin employee had worked out of the company’s office in Dublin. The KGO report said Pleasanton police had spoken with the fired employee, who hadn’t been charged with any crimes, but was still under investigation.

Pleasanton police didn’t immediately return a request for comment. Contact Rex Crum at 408-2783415.