Residents of an apartment complex are speaking out after video has surfaced showing men with apparent long guns walking into an apartment in Aurora, Colorado.
Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky
says the video first went public after a tenant provided doorbell camera video to a local news station.
Over the last week, several online and TV news stories in other outlets have mentioned claims that the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua — TdA for short — took over The Edge at Lowry apartment complex, though Aurora Police say that is not the case.
On Tuesday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump condemned subjects of the video, describing the men as “tough young thugs” as he vowed to confront migrant crime if reelected. Trump did not explain how or why he concluded the men were migrants.
The claims have drawn mixed messages from politicians, while authorities have described the frenzy as “completely overblown.”
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An Aurora Police spokesperson told Scripps News the video is authentic and was recorded the night of Aug 18. Police say they used a search warrant to obtain the long gun seen in the video. Police say they found it while investigating a nearby shooting that detectives believe involved the same people.
On Tuesday evening, residents who live at the complex held a news conference saying they have not seen a large-scale gang presence or a takeover.
"Here, none of us feel threatened," said one resident in front of dozens of neighbors and news reporters. "We don’t feel threatened by any gangs, we feel threatened by the owner of this apartment who asks us constantly to pay and pay a higher rate.”
In a one-on-one interview with Scripps News Denver, the city’s Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, said he went to the apartment complex accompanied by members of the Aurora Police Department to see it for himself.
Coffman also alluded to immigration issues underlying alleged criminal activity. “It seems that some of those criminal elements have come up here," he said. "For instance, Venezuela does not cooperate with the United States, with our immigration services when it comes to sharing criminal histories, so it's difficult to vet people at the border.”
Coffman has tiptoed around questions about the gang’s presence in the apartment complex — saying it appears the building is not being run by management — but when pressed on whether he has received confirmation from authorities on whether TdA is present, he said he has not.
“I think people are excited about that it's a transnational gang," Coffman said. "I'm obviously concerned about it. But you know, quite frankly, to me, personally, what matters is we get these people off the street in whatever affiliation they have. They're bad. I need them off the street.”
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Aurora Police says officers visited the site on Sept. 30 and said it is not under control of a gang. It did, however, say it has arrested four people with confirmed or suspected ties to the Tren de Aragua gang in connection to a July shooting. Aurora Police confirmed at least one of those men has been turned over to ICE officials.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has also chimed in. While he has not spoken directly about the validity of concerns about Tren de Aragua in Aurora, he said any and all state assistance is available to help if requested by local police and government.
