Everyone’s talking about a Venezuelan gang in Aurora. Here’s what we know — and what we don’t
Denverite reviewed the news stories and the claims made by the landlord, officials, politicians, activists and the police. We spent time at one apartment building, speaking with residents; observed the City of Aurora displacing residents of another building; and reviewed federal and local government statements.
We learned the apartment buildings have been in terrible shape for years and still are. Many residents say they are not scared of gangs, instead saying they fear the owners of the complex. And local police departments say Tren de Aragua does not have an outsized role in metro area crimes, despite claims the gang has taken over the Denver area.
Still, the gang’s members have allegedly been involved in one high-profile robbery and an attempted homicide in the metro. Aurora police say they have identified 10 gang members and that six were in custody on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, while police acknowledged the allegations of rent theft, they said they had not yet found probable cause to make arrests in those cases. We could not substantiate whether the gang members had chased out property managers.
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Archived at web.archive.org/…/venezuelan-gang-aurora-colorado…
