AURORA | Aurora police say they have identified three more suspects seen in an Aurora apartment video gone viral that has become central to a firestorm of misinformation and controversy over disputed Venezuelan gang activity in the city.
Neither the three new suspects — nor three others previously identified or arrested after being seen in the video carrying guns inside The Edge apartment complex — have been linked to Venezuelan gangs, or any gang, police said.
Investigators have identified Edilson Yoel Pena-Angulo, 25, and Danyeer Aramillo-Meneses, 23, in the video, and both are now wanted on warrants for their arrest. Both face felony charges of first-degree burglary and menacing with a firearm. The identity of the third suspect will be released after filing an arrest warrant in local courts, police said.
The two men identified were among four others that appeared in an Aug. 18 security camera video taken by tenants in the apartment building at East 12th Avenue and Dallas Street.
Police said that the video was taken a short time before a fatal shooting outside the apartment. No charges have yet been filed in the shooting, although police say some or all of the men in the video are potential suspects.
The video became the subject of national uproar after Aurora City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky claimed on local and national TV shows, without evidence, that the apartment complex and others were overrun by Venezuelan gang members, belonging to the prison gang Tren de Aragua.
Police have said repeatedly that some buildings and areas of Aurora are subject to a variety of gang activity, but they have disputed apartment owner claims that gangs have overtaken buildings and made management of the complexes impossible. Jurinsky has amplified those unproven claims on Fox News and other media.
Republicans and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump picked up the mayhem, saying that the entire city of Aurora is overrun with Venezuelan gang members, and even that they are now taking over all of Colorado, according to several Associated Press reports from Trump’s rallies.
The viral video depicts six men, brandishing a variety of firearms, coming up common area stairs inside the building. The men knock on an apartment door and go inside.
All of the men in the video have now been identified. One of the men, Naudi Lopez-Fernandez, 21, is in custody, police said. Three other men seen in the video, Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 25, and Niefred Jose Serpa-Acosta, 20 — both of whom face charges of first-degree burglary and felony menacing — are still at large.
Aurora Police Operation Safe Haven is working to determine all the men’s identities and determine involvement in any criminal activity.
Police said the surveillance footage was recorded seven minutes before 25-year-old Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo was killed by gunfire outside the same complex.
But most of the dispute has focused on the men inside the complex.
Officers found the scoped rifle seen in the video in an apartment unit neighboring the ones caught on camera.
Details released by police and Chief Todd Chamberlain so far counters claims in late August by Jurinsky and Mayor Mike Coffman that the men are members of Tren de Aragua.
Although Coffman since has backtracked on those claims, the false narrative that TdA members have overrun whole apartment complexes in Aurora has gone so viral that Donald Trump is using it as an anti-immigration talking point in his presidential campaign.
Immigrant aid agency officials have repeatedly said the demonization of the large immigrant population creates real danger not only for the immigrants, but all latino and Hispanic community members, because of the way Trump and others have characterized them.
Chamberlain, during a Sept. 20 press conference, didn’t discount the possibility the suspects are TdA members, noting that soured diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Venezuela — and Venezuelan law enforcement’s refusal to share information about criminals or gang members from that country — make gang affiliation difficult for police to prove.
“The one thing that I think is positive with most gang members is that they do like to brag, and they’re very verbose, and I think that after a while you’ll start to see individuals start to identify or self-identity as ‘Yeah, I’m a TdA gang member,’ or ‘Yeah, I’m a whatever-gang-they’re-affiliated with.’ But it is going to be a process. It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take time.”
Chamberlain noted that, “We don’t want to misidentify any individual as a gang member.”
He said APD is being methodical at how it proceeds.
“You identify someone as a gang member that stays with them for the rest of their life. That is one (thing) I’m not going to do with this agency,” he said. “We are not going to do a knee-jerk reaction to this. We are going to be methodical, we are going to be precise and we are going to be evidence-based.”
Chamberlain emphasized that the police investigation focuses on the suspects’ alleged criminal behavior, not their immigration status. He made a point of noting that many Venezuelans don’t feel comfortable reporting crimes because they are undocumented.
“We want individuals that are being victimized, we want individuals that are being mistreated to step forward,” Chamberlain said. “We want to help and we will help.”
That said, he promised to use “every tool” and every chance to unify efforts with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies “to ensure that criminals are found and brought to justice.” Still, he noted that “we are not going to over-police the population based on their race or (ethnicity).”
Chamberlain debunked much-publicized comments made by Jurinsky and Coffman this summer suggesting that TdA and Venezuelan migrants more generally have taken over apartment complexes and overrun police:
“We are not by any means overwhelmed by that issue. We are not by any means overtaken by (Venezuelan) gangs, TDA or any other gang.”
The Edge at Lowry, along with two other Aurora apartment complexes — Aspen Grove and Whispering pines — are owned and managed by the same company, CBZ Management and have been the subject of multiple complaints about structural problems, flooding, broken appliances, mold and big and vermin infestation. The city shut down Aspen Grove because of building and safety code violations, forcing hundreds of mostly Venezuelan residents to find new homes.
Chamberlain signed a nuisance complaint last week for all three properties. In the meantime, city staff said the owner and management company have not been cooperative in repairing the complexes a
Does it matter if they are TdA members or not? The pertinent question is, “Are they criminals?” The next question is, “Are they illegal immigrants?”
Oh wait, that’s right, our governor has declared that police will not ask their home country. Or whether they are here legally. Nor is Venezuela any help.
But we know the answers.
Hmm, still no retraction or apology from Jurinski. What a waste of oxygen! She is the kind of windbag we don’t need!
Here is just another citizen’s opinion, as yours is Kane. Thanks, CM Jurinsky, for bringing this whole criminal situation within our neighborhoods to the publics attention. we need more just like you to discover the problems in Aurora.
Now if the child CM in Ward I would do her job and address the multiple problems in her Ward.
The Police are doing what they do applying the laws to all fairly and evenly. Criminals are being apprehended and lawfully disposed. This all could have been done without exaggeration and political hay making by elected officials. It was not necessary to FOX the matter for recognition through lies. Aurora has been degraded by some if it’s elected officials for election spin at the local and national level. Trump is still running on their hyperbole and distortions of fact making Aurora victim of extremist politicians.
Well said!
hopefully every illegal migrant is forcefully deported asap, violence is welcome !