Aurora city officials reject claims the city has been taken over by Venezuelan gangs

By Shirleen Guerra | The Center Square

(Worthy News) – Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky released a statement saying their city has not been taken over by a Venezuelan gang and criticized false claims made by anonymous media and social media sites.

“The entire city of Aurora has not been taken over,” Jurinsky said late Tuesday night on X. “Several apartment complexes have been taken over by Tren de Aragua and people have suffered because of that.”

Coffman and Jurinsky’s statement was endorsed by police. It read:

“We would like to clarify the facts regarding the widespread presence of Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Aurora and throughout the metro area. We want to provide an update on the facts of the situation and the concerted, ongoing efforts of the Aurora Police Department to investigate and aggressively prosecute criminal activity associated with TdA members and associates.”

It continued: “TdA has not ‘taken over’ the city. The exaggerated claims being fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true. Again, TdA’s presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, which the city has been targeting in various ways for months.”

The statement said police have identified ten people linked to the Venezuelan gang and arrested eight of them.

The Aurora Police Department is part of a special task force that is working with local, state and federal agencies to take on the gang.

The city indicated that this particular criminal element is a regional problem.

“For some time, long before concerns about TdA in Colorado gained national attention, APD arrested people for various criminal activities that had suspected, but not necessarily confirmed, TdA connections,” the statement said.

The gang affair became a national news story after videos circulated showing the gang and its members taking over apartment complexes, prompting the mayor to seek an emergency court order to vacate the apartments targeted by Venezuelan gangs, as previously reported by The Center Square.

Donald Trump addressed the presence of gangs in Aurora during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.

“Look at Aurora, Colorado, they’re taking over the cities, they’re taking over the buildings. They’re going in violently,” Trump said.

(Source (Read more…) )

Fair Use Notice:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to promote understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of such copyrighted material as provided in Section 107 of the United States Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107, the material on this site is distributed on a not-for-profit basis to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, please visit: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.