Brutal Venezuelan gang violence spreads to quiet suburb from Sanctuary City next door

Denver’s decision to welcome migrants with open arms is spreading bloodshed to its neighboring suburbs. A notorious Venezuelan prison gang has set up shop in Aurora, Colorado — even though the city initially wanted nothing to do with the influx of asylum seekers.

Aurora, a quiet bedroom community of 390,000 directly east of the Mile-High City, has become a base for the ruthless Tren de Aragua gang, which has seized several apartment complexes and unleashed a wave of violent crime.

Denver leads the United States in the number of new migrants per capita, with more than 40,000 people arriving through the southern border since December 2022.

The city has done everything it can to help, even drastically cutting back on emergency services to cover costs, which are estimated to be over $68 million and counting.

But Aurora has made it clear that it does not share Denver’s ambition to become the nation’s premier vacation destination.

In February, the Aurora City Council passed a resolution by a 7-3 vote emphasizing that resources and support will no longer be provided to migrants or others brought into the community from neighboring cities.

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But Denver’s generosity has become a problem for Aurora, regardless. According to police, officials and law enforcement sources, the community is now dealing with increased gang violence as Tren de Aragua has moved into the city and is taking whatever it can get its hands on.

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According to police sources, a local gang leader decided to open a shop in the city. His name is Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino and he goes by “Galleta,” Spanish for “Cookie.”

Within months of arriving in the U.S., agents say, he and other gang members brutally beat a man at an Aurora apartment complex the gang had taken over and occupied. In July, agents arrested him again — this time for a shooting at the same complex that left two men wounded.

Members of Tren de Aragua are accused of a string of violent crimes in the U.S., including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley earlier this year and the shooting deaths of two NYPD officers during an arrest in June. Gang leaders recently gave the “green light” to members to shoot U.S. law enforcement officers who attempt to disrupt their criminal activities.

A local investor in a company that owns several apartment complexes in Aurora said there was a “massive shooting” at one of the properties taken over by the gang.

“I’m afraid this could happen in America,” the source said.

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When Pacheco-Chirino — an alleged “shot-caller” in the gang — crossed the southern border into Texas in 2022, he was screened by federal border officials, who found nothing concerning about his past. He was then released, Homeland Security sources said.

He told Border Patrol agents he was going to New York, but ended up at an ICE office in Colorado in June 2023. There, he was given a court date and released again.

Shortly after, he began causing chaos in the community.

In November 2023, Pacheco-Chirino was allegedly involved in a brutal, nearly fatal attack at the Fitzsimons Place apartment complex in Aurora. The complex had recently been shut down due to building code violations. The owners claimed they could not fix the violations because the gang had taken over the building, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

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The apartment investor told The Post they lost control of several properties because the gang took over the units.

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Soon, the alleged gang members began renting the units to other migrants, whom they also “threatened.” They then began terrorizing the apartment staff, who were forced to flee the properties, leaving them to the gangs.

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