Can a property management be sued for crimes against their tenants?

Hard to say - were there previous incidents of crime that the property management company was aware of or should have been aware of? What type of security measures currently exist on the property, if any? Was this a first time event? There are other factors that go into answering this question.

Very unlikely Stephen A. Greenbaum, Esq. GREENBAUM, NAGEL, FISHER & PALIOTTI, LLP 200 High Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 Tel: 617-423-4300 Fax: 617-482-5067 Email: sagreenbaum@greenbaumnagel.com This electronic mail transmission contains confidential information intended only for the person(s) named. Any use, distribution, copying or disclosure by any other person is strictly prohibited. If you received this transmission in error, please notify the sender by telephone (617-423-4300) or electronic mail ( postmaster@greenbaumnagel.com).

There have been occasions where the landlord and/or property manager have been held to be liable for crimes against tenants. In order to know whether a property manager would be liable in this particular instance would depend up a detailed analysis of all the facts surrounding this particular case. I would need to have a much more detailed factual scenario and be able to ask relevant questions before I could analyze potential liability in this instance.

Property managers do have a duty to protect their tenants...but this duty is based on protecting them from what is foreseeable...meaning what they knew or reasonably should have known about. If a "random" drive-by shooting occurs as you indicated, a landlord or property manager cannot be held liable unless they knew that random drive by shootings were normal and they did nothing to protect their tenants. They should not evict a victim, unless they have evidence that the victim/tenant had brought the shooters to the home by his conduct and his or her future tenancy will affect other tenants...in that case it is appropriate for them to evict.