By Carol McKinley
The Gazette
AURORA, Colo. — Aurora officials on Friday night released a video insisting that gang members have “not taken” over an apartment complex, part of an aggressive campaign by the city to push back against some reports by national media outlets saying an organized Venezuelan crime group has “overrun” the Colorado municipality.
As the city sought to calm fears, it will also seek an emergency order to “clear the apartment buildings” of gang activities.
On Friday, the city reported that authorities earlier arrested a “documented” TDA gang member — twice — over a shooting incident and a separate case in which a man was badly beaten at another apartment complex. After the first arrest, that gang member, court documents revealed, was released on a $20,000 bond.
It was the first time that the city acknowledged authorities held in their custody a potential ringleader of the Venezuelan prison gang called Tren de Aragua, which local and federal officials earlier said is operating in metro Denver.
Aurora officials also released a statement insisting that a “lot of misleading information” has been “shared about what is happening in our city” and that media organizations have “conflated and considerably exaggerated incidents that are isolated to a handful of problem properties alone.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Gov. Jared Polis came to Aurora’s aid, seeking to allay fears after a video emerged showing armed men — one carried a rifle — swarming an apartment unit. Another video purportedly shows a shooting incident.
Meanwhile, a councilmember said the videos are proof that the Venezuelan gang is, indeed, operating in some apartment complexes.
The video and statement from Aurora and the media appearances by officials all delivering the same message — that the city is safe, that the gang’s presence is miniscule and that reports about their activities have been exaggerated — capped a frantic few days for Colorado’s third most populous city.
In their initial statements, Aurora officials dismissed claims that the Venezuelan gang was primarily responsible for deteriorating conditions at an apartment complex that the city shut down a few weeks ago.
Thursday, in an interview with The Denver Gazette, Aurora Mayer Mike Coffman noted that gang activities have caused problems in two of three apartment complexes owned by CBZ, but insisted that the Aspen Grove complex at 1568 Nome Street had long been in trouble for code violations.
“Nome was different,” he said. “At Nome what happened was we had uninhabitability ability problems long before the migrant crisis. They were well on the way to being shut down. We were in court with them over code enforcement violations,” he said.
The city is now seeking an emergency order to root out the gang’s presence from other apartment buildings, according to Coffman.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Coffman said the Aurora City Attorney’s Office is “preparing court documents to request an emergency court order to clear the apartment buildings where Venezuelan gang activity has been occurring by declaring the properties a ‘Criminal Nuisance.’”
“This will require a municipal judge to issue the order with the goal of getting these properties back under the control of the property owners. In the meantime, the law enforcement task force set up to disrupt and arrest Venezuelan gang members in these buildings will continue its operation,” he said. “I strongly believe that the best course of action is to shut these building[s] down and make sure that this never happens again.”
Still, there are signs that the city’s messaging is not completely in sync.
While the mayor pointed to a potential emergency order, the city’s police department sent the media two video clips showing Aurora police officers knocking on doors of The Edge at Lowry apartment complex and talking with tenants. The police department said officers have been engaging with residents over the last couple of weeks, including last Friday night.
The videos appeared to be an attempt by the police to accomplish at least two goals — show that officers are on the ground and counter any perception that the city has “lost control” of the situation.
In one of the video clips, interim police chief Heather Morris, sought to reassure the public that things are under control, as two police officers stood behind her, talking with someone at the entrance of one of the units.
“We’re making sure that people aren’t paying rent to gang leaders or gang members ... that that’s not happening,” she said. “And we’ve discovered today and yesterday talking to so many residents that that’s not the case.”
Morris also said, “I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that don’t live in this community. But what we’re learning out here is that gang members have not taken over this complex.”
The Denver Gazette earlier spoke with residents, who indicated they paid rent to the property’s management and that the latter skipped town with their money. The residents said the rent was $1,400 per month for a one-bedroom unit. At that time, trash had piled up in the alley. The city has since cleaned that up.
Still, neighbors in the area who wished not to be identified said they lived in fear and felt helpless about the complex, which they said was “attracting criminals.”
The Edge at Lowry, located at 12th Avenue and Dallas, is one of the properties owned by CBZ Management that Coffman has accused of neglecting its responsibilities to care for its buildings.
Numerous calls and emails to CBZ Management’s public relations team went unanswered. Based in Brooklyn, CBZ Management operates rental apartments in New York and Colorado with 11 properties in Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
CBZ Management have blamed the conditions at the apartments on the gang, saying its presence precluded its staffers from maintaining the apartments.
Aurora shuts down ‘rapidly deteriorating’ apartment building, leaving dozens of families homeless
At least two of its complexes in Aurora — Aspen Grove and Whispering Pines — have been identified as havens for gang activity.
Aurora has been the subject of some national television talking heads, who sought to make a point by connecting how America’s porous borders have led to immigrant gangs infiltrating cities.
This week, videos emerged showing alleged immigrant gang members with assault rifles and handguns roaming the halls of The Edge Complex.
That footage, which was recorded in mid August on the night of a near-deadly shooting, went viral and was shown on major national television channels.
The video, first obtained by Fox 31, was recorded by a woman who was so fed up with the violence occurring outside her door, she had her son place cameras around her unit, according to reports.
In another video, men are seen kicking in apartment door.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman admits Venezuelan gangs infiltrated apartment complexes in city
This week, Coffman identified what he called a “nightmare situation” with gangs having taken control of two apartment complexes. He also admitted that the city had “lost control” of the situation, vowing to “aggressively” take it back.
But the mayor pushed back on the national media’s recent portrayal of an entire city being overrun by gangs.
“The misrepresentation that all of Aurora has this problem is simply not true and it gives this city a black eye unjustifiably,” Coffman said. “Arrests have been made. More arrests will be made.”
Meanwhile, the governor’s office appeared to blame Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, who has been outspoken about the issue, for the national and international spotlight on Aurora.
“If Danielle Jurinsky has evidence of illegal activity in Aurora that can assist the investigation, it might even be illegal for her to withhold it from the Aurora Police Department and she should file a report immediately,” a gubernatorial spokesperson said. “The state has been ready for weeks to back up any operation by the Aurora Police Department needed to make Aurora safer.”
In a statement Friday, Polis said Colorado is a “zero tolerance state for illegal activity, taking over buildings has no place in Colorado , and I am confident that the city of Aurora shares this basic value and will enforce the law if it is being violated there.”
The governor added: “I urge them to do so quickly and in a thorough manner. Over the last month, I have been in regular contact with the City of Aurora and the Aurora Police Department and have offered any and all state assistance to support their efforts if requested. The state has been ready for weeks to back up any operation by the Aurora Police Department needed to make Aurora safer.”
Denver Gazette reporter Nicole Brambila contributed to this article.
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