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Crime-ridden Colorado apartment linked to scary Tren de Aragua invasion being shut down: ‘Imminent threat’

BySumanti Sen
Jan 14, 2025 08:50 PM IST

The apartment became the centre of various violent incidents, including the kidnapping and torture of a migrant couple who lived there.

A Colorado apartment complex that became infamous for being overrun by the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang has been ordered to shut down for posing an “imminent threat” to the public, a judge has reportedly ruled. Last week, owners of the Edge at Lowry complex in Aurora were slapped with the emergency closure order. The apartment became the centre of various violent incidents, including the kidnapping and torture of a migrant couple who lived there.

Crime-ridden Colorado apartment linked to scary Tren de Aragua invasion being shut down (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt)(REUTERS)
Crime-ridden Colorado apartment linked to scary Tren de Aragua invasion being shut down (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt)(REUTERS)

According to the Denver Post, officials are pursuing criminal negligence charges against the owners of the buildings – Five Dallas Partners. Judge Shawn Day ruled that the 60-apartment complex posed “an imminent threat to public safety and welfare.” The building is expected to shutter next month.

In court papers, officials said the complex had become “an epicenter for unmitigated violent crimes and property crimes.” Over 60 criminal incidents have been linked to the building since September last year, including armed robberies and violent assaults. “The problem is a mismanaged location that allowed this crime to flourish,” Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said after the closure order was issued.

It is unclear how many people will have to leave the complex due to the closure. “The city is simultaneously working on a plan with Arapahoe County and other community partners that will provide relocation assistance to established tenants of the 60 affected apartment units,” city officials said in a statement.

When the complex made headlines

The complex made headlines in August last year when terrifying footage showed a group of bandits storming it. In November, a pair of Tren de Aragua gangbangers who were linked to the caught-on-camera Aurora, Colorado apartment invasion were arrested in a major New York City drug trafficking and credit card scam bust. Denyeer Aramillo Meneses, 23, and Edison Pena Angulo, 25, were picked up by a gang task force led by the NYPD and US Homeland Security Investigation during an early-morning raid in the Bronx.

In another incident, nine suspected Tren de Aragua gangbangers were charged last month for kidnapping a man and a woman who lived at the complex, taking them to another apartment and pistol-whipping and beating them. Seven others are still under investigation for their connection to the crime. The suspects also burglarised the couple’s apartment.

“We are not going to rest until we verify every individual in this incident is in custody, every individual who mistreated another human being the way these victims were treated is in custody and we will use again every resource at our ability to do that. We have proactively been focused on that apartment complex,” the police chief said at the time.

“As everybody here knows and as the nation knows, this complex is an incredibly problematic complex. It’s an incredibly crime-riddled complex,” he added.

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