DENVER — The apartment complex where suspected armed Venezuelan gang members were seen on video breaking into an occupied unit, fueling Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to target migrants, has been closed by the city of Aurora, Colorado.
The Edge at Lowry will close next month after the city obtained an emergency court order to close the five-building complex because it became a criminal nuisance, the city spokesperson said Wednesday , Ryan S. Luby.
The city filed the petition last week after several armed and suspected members of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang also known as TDA, allegedly kidnapped, tied up and beat two people at the complex last month.
City officials did not say what sparked the conflict.
“We had to get our hands on this property because it was completely unmanaged,” City Attorney Pete Schulte said at a news conference this week. “No one, in this light, will stop individuals from committing crimes. »
He said the complex and its intruders posed an imminent threat to the public’s well-being and safety.
Nine of the 16 people involved in the alleged kidnapping are charged with various counts, including first-degree assault, robbery and extortion, Aurora Police Department said in a statement.
It was unclear if any of the 16 were gang members. Police said all were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
About 60 units in the complex are occupied, including some vacant apartments that gang members and squatters are using illegally, city officials said, adding that they are working with Arapahoe County and other community partners to provide resettlement assistance to lawful residents.
During an investigation, officers discovered weapons hidden in the walls of some units, city officials said. Records indicate officers searched five apartments on Dec. 17 and found at least three handguns, extended magazines and several knives.
The building is owned by Five Dallas Partners LLC and operated by CBZ Management LLC. Neither responded to telephone and email requests for comment.
The apartment buildings gained national attention in August when a viral video surfaced showing suspected armed gang members breaking into an occupied unit.
Trump, while on the campaign trail, targeted Aurora, saying the city had been overrun by Venezuelan gangs, and he repeatedly claimed during a presidential debate that the TDA had taken over the apartments.
A few weeks later, during a election rally In Aurora, Trump revealed plans to target undocumented gang members in mass deportations that he said would begin once he takes office. He called his initiative “Operation Aurora”.
At the time, local authorities They acknowledged the gang had little presence in the city, but insisted it had not taken over the compound. Some residents agreed the allegations were exaggerated, but others said they believed that to be the case.
In July 2024, there were 435,719 convicted criminal immigrants in the United States who were not in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to the federal agency. It was not clear how many of them may be gang members.
Last month’s alleged kidnapping sealed the fate of the Edge in Lowry, which city officials called a troubled property with many “illegal tenants who moved into vacant apartments without applying for a lease or application.”
Mayor Mike Coffman declined to comment.
At the press conference announcing the closure, Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said, “The City of Aurora has been faced with a major problem that is infecting our community. He said the property was “crime-infested.”
Jessica Prosser, Aurora’s director of housing and community services, said the property is uninhabitable, citing waste abatement ordinances and $70,000 in unpaid water, utility and gas bills.
