A brutal attack this week on two people in an Aurora apartment complex began with a video of a separate incident, Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said Friday.
Now, agency’s investigation may have revealed that alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have been extorting monthly payments from residents of the apartments.
Last month, a woman videotaped a fight in a courtyard of The Edge at Lowry apartments. Chamberlain’s department says the video also captured other people “that were involved in criminal activity.”
The video was published online, and police say that led a group of assailants to retaliate on Dec. 16 in a widely publicized attack against the woman who made the video.
The attackers took the woman and her husband into a vacant apartment where “they were bound, they were robbed, they were assaulted, and they were incredibly mistreated,” Chamberlain said. The assailants stabbed and beat the victims with pistols, Chamberlain said.
Nineteen people have been arrested or are being investigated in the assault.
One of them was allegedly part of a separate viral video this summer, when a group were seen patrolling the halls of the same apartment complex, and forcing their way into residences. He had earlier escaped police by wearing a woman’s wig and hat, Chamberlain said.
What happened during the Dec. 16 attack
In this week’s incident, the attackers allegedly robbed the victims’ apartments, and also forced them to hand over banking information, and forced their way into a phone that contained the imagery of the fight.
“They destroyed the actual image that was recorded earlier,” the chief said. “Again, our victims were basically subjected to some incredibly inhumane and harsh and unbelievable treatment.”
The victims escaped by promising not to get police involved. But when they were free, they called the police.
Eight suspects are in the custody of federal immigration authorities and face charges in the incident. Eight others are under investigation, and three more face charges but are not in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the chief said.
“Those pending charges range from everything from second degree kidnapping, aggravated robbery, first degree assault, extortion, and burglary,” Chamberlain said.
The investigation is finding more evidence of gang activity at the apartments
While Chamberlain did not say why they suspect the alleged assailants are part of Tren de Aragua, the investigation has delved deeper into the gang’s activity at the apartments.
Police believe that the suspects have been “basically extorting or taxing these individuals,” by forcing them to pay $500 a month via an app, Chamberlain said.
If true, that would confirm a claim that has circulated since this summer. The building’s owners had claimed that gang members were shaking down residents for rent. At the time, police said they had heard complaints from residents, but that it hadn’t resulted in arrests.
It’s unclear how many residents have been victims of the alleged extortion or how long it may have been happening.
“It is a challenge. It is complex,” Chamberlain said.
Some victims may be afraid to approach police because they are undocumented immigrants and fear being deported.
“These suspects have basically victimized people of their own ethnicity based upon the fact that the immigrant population does not want to come forward,” he said. Chamberlain added that he wanted to reassure “everybody in the city of Aurora who is documented or undocumented: We are here to serve you.”
Mayor Mike Coffman said that one rumor about this week’s assault was overblown. The attackers did not pull off the woman’s fingernails — it was an acrylic nail, he said.
Previously, an alleged TdA member was accused of assaulting owner Zev Baumgarten at another of his buildings.
