Shocking video shows gunmen storming into a Colorado apartment building allegedly occupied by a dangerous Venezuelan prison gang.
A group of heavily armed men, including three with handguns and one with a rifle, broke into a troubled apartment building in the Denver suburb of Aurora and forced their way into the unit. Acquired by KDVR show.
According to local news stations, the footage was captured moments before a shootout occurred at the Edge complex in Raleigh earlier this month, leaving one person seriously injured and multiple vehicles damaged.
Another video, filmed at a different time, shows two men smashing the lock of a room in the same housing estate where the migrants live with a tire iron.
Recent crimes at the building have residents worried.
“It's been a nightmare. We just want to get out of here,” Cindy Romero told KDVR as she left the building with her husband, Edward.
The couple said the violence began when a large number of migrants broke into the building.
They used 5 locks on the apartment door from top to bottom and a door security bar jammer.
“I have to do this every time I come home and take out the trash,” Cindy said as she turned each key, “and every time I go to bed at night. I have to do this so no one can kick the door down.”
Their car was one of several riddled with bullet holes after the shootout.
The Romeros said they had been trying to move to a safer location but were unable to get the help they needed to do so.
“We couldn't get any help. We tried to contact aid agencies but they said it's not a condemned building so we have to wait until it becomes a problem, and we didn't want to wait that long,” Edward Romero told a local station.
They were finally able to pack up and leave with help from Aurora City Councilman Daniel Jurinski, who has been vocal about the influx of alleged members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua into the suburb of 390,000 people.
“Non-profits in the city have stepped up to help the immigrants who have come here, but no one is helping the Americans who are stuck in these apartments,” Jurinski told the news station.[And] “This is not just an issue for Americans. Other Venezuelans are also being threatened by these gangs.”
The city councilman spoke to The Washington Post early Wednesday about the community being tormented by the influx of a new immigrant population from Denver and the resulting Tren de Aragua gang members.
“To the governor and mayor of Denver, I refuse to be silent. I refuse to play political games with you on this immigration crisis, and I will continue to speak out and help as many people as I can,” she said.
Denver, a sanctuary city, has welcomed more than 40,000 new immigrants since December 2022, making it the highest number of immigrants per capita in the nation.
Aurora, located directly east of Denver, has also seen an influx of immigrants and a rise in crime perpetrated by the Tren de Aragua prison gang, which originates from Venezuela's Aragua region.
The gang entered the United States from the southern border and infiltrated several states and major cities such as New York and Chicago.
Several high-profile crimes have been linked to members of the gang, including the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the shooting of two New York Police Department officers by the NYPD in June.
