AURORA, Colo. — Police in Aurora, a Denver suburb, say a Venezuelan street gang with little presence in the city has not taken over a rundown apartment complex. Yet the charge continues to gain traction among conservatives and was amplified by former President Donald Trump during a Fox News town hall Wednesday, where he said Venezuelans were “taking over the whole city.”
The unfounded accusation gained momentum after a resident of the complex released a video last month showing armed men knocking on the door of an apartment, intensifying fears that the Tren de Aragua gang controls the six-building complex.
However, city officials say the buildings, along with two other apartment complexes, have fallen into disrepair due to negligence by the property manager, CBZ Management.
Aurora is a diverse city that has long struggled with crime and gangs, and police said they have so far linked 10 people to the Tren de Aragua and arrested six of them, including the suspects in an attempted homicide in July.
But during a tour of the apartments where the gunmen were filmed, Aurora Interim Police Chief Heather Morris said the gang members had not taken over the premises and were not collecting rent. The comments came after Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said “criminal elements” had taken over unspecified buildings and were extorting residents.
Aurora police Officer Matthew Longshore reiterated in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday that the agency had confirmed that residents were not paying rent to gang members, but they found that apartment managers were no longer sending representatives to the complex.
The city of Aurora has already filed a lawsuit against Zev Baumgarten with CBZ for “years of property neglect and numerous code violations” after another building he managed in Aurora was closed as uninhabitable. Its residents were evicted in mid-August. Baumgarten’s trials, which were scheduled for August and September, have been postponed for at least six months.
CBZ did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment, and phone numbers listed for the two open apartment buildings managed by CBZ in Aurora were disconnected.
After residents held a news conference to denounce the gang allegations, Coffman, a Republican and former congressman, admitted he was “not sure what the truth is in all of this.” In an interview this week with Denver7 TV, Coffman said the narrative that the entire city of Aurora is dangerous is not true and is detrimental to the economic health of the growing city of more than 400,000.
Coffman was not immediately available Thursday to discuss the situation.
Trump has sought to capitalize on immigration concerns as he seeks a second term in November. At Wednesday night’s town hall meeting, he reiterated his call for mass deportations after exaggerating the gang situation in Aurora.
“Look at Aurora, Colorado, where the Venezuelans are taking over the whole city, they’re taking over the buildings, the whole city,” Trump said. “You saw it the other day, they’re breaking down doors and occupying people’s apartments.”
Among the nearly 1 million Venezuelan migrants who have entered the United States in recent years are suspected members of gangs linked to police shootings, human trafficking and other crimes. Yet there is no evidence that the gang has established an organizational structure in the United States, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of Colombia-based InSight Crime, told the AP this summer. He recently published a report on the expansion of the Tren de Aragua.
Social media posts about a video showing migrants taking over a school bus in San Diego and a 911 call reporting that Venezuelan migrants had taken over an apartment building in Chicago have also drawn attention recently. Both allegations were unfounded.
Many immigrants from Venezuela and other Latin American countries who live in the Aurora complex say there are no gangs there and that they are unfairly portrayed as criminals.
They accused CBZ Management, a New York-based company, of refusing to take care of bedbugs, rodents and constant water leaks despite monthly rent of $1,200 or more. Residents fear eviction, but the city said Wednesday it has no immediate plans to pursue that option.
“The only criminal here is the owner of the building,” Moises Didenot, originally from Venezuela, said through a translator at a news conference in a dusty courtyard of the complex on Tuesday.
He showed reporters mice he recently caught with sticky traps in the basement apartment he shares with his wife and 11-year-old daughter. Only two of their stove burners work, their ceiling fan is missing a blade and whenever they clean their bathtub, mold quickly reappears, he said.
Aurora officials said in a social media post on Aug. 30 that they were taking the presence of the Venezuelan gang seriously and said more arrests were expected. They also said they would “continue to address the problems that the absentee and out-of-state owners of these properties have allowed to fester unchecked.”
The video fueling the baseless accusation shows armed men, one holding a long gun, running up the stairs and knocking on an apartment door. Former residents who filmed the video told KDVR-TV that it was taken before a shooting at the complex on August 18, in which a 25-year-old man was later killed.
Sydney Edwards, a spokeswoman for the Aurora Police Department, said police have the video and have seized evidence visible in it. She added that she could not comment further on the ongoing investigation.
Aurora police also announced the creation of a task force with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to specifically address concerns about the Tren de Aragua and other criminal activity affecting migrant communities.
“We will continue to investigate, prosecute and arrest those who commit crimes, and we will maintain a robust presence at these properties,” the city said in a statement Thursday.
• Hanson reported from Helena, Montana.
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