Apartment building where viral video fueled Trump's claims about city likely will close next year
AURORA, Colo. (AP) — An apartment building that was the scene of a viral video that led former President Donald Trump to claim a Denver suburb had been taken over by a Venezuelan gang will likely close early next year, an official said Friday.
The city of Aurora is seeking to close all but one building at a six-building complex where armed men were seen entering an apartment in August shortly before a fatal shooting outside, claiming the property has seen too much violent crime in addition to poor living conditions, Aurora City Attorney Pete Schulte said.
While the property's owners, CBZ Management, have said they were unable to provide maintenance because a notorious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, took over the buildings, the city says the company essentially abandoned maintaining and running them, creating a vacuum that allowed crime to flourish.
“They created an environment where the criminal element could move in and be unchecked,” said Schulte, who said gangs were responsible for some of the crime but that a lot of it was not gang-related.
Schulte declined to say how much of the crime was specifically due to Tren de Aragua. He said that gang is known to “travel light and move often" and believes its members have likely moved on.
Telephone messages seeking comment left for CBZ Management and its lawyer in the case were not immediately returned.
During a court hearing on the criminal-nuisance action brought by the city Thursday, the owners said they agreed the buildings should be closed, Schulte said. Given that, he expects a judge to issue an order to close the buildings at the next court hearing in the case on Jan. 13. After a final decision, the city would give residents 30 days notice that they need to move, he said.
During the hearing, the owners did not respond to the allegations that the property became a crime hub, Schulte said. Given that, there is potentially a chance they could ask for a trial instead, delaying any closure.
Three of the six men shown in the video have since been arrested, according to Aurora police. Two of them were taken into custody in New York City under a federal arrest warrant last week. A statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement said both were members of Tren de Aragua.
According to Colorado court documents, the same rifle seen in the video was used in the fatal shooting about 10 minutes later outside the apartment complex. It was found disassembled in an oven in one of the apartments, according to an arrest warrant.
One of the six buildings at the complex will not be closed because it is owned by a different branch of CBZ. It is being managed by an official appointed by the court at the request of the mortgage lender who is making improvements to the building, Schulte said.
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