11 people, including Venezuelan gang members, facing potential charges in abduction, police say
Police say 11 people, including several members of a Venezuelan gang, may face criminal charges in connection with the violent kidnapping and beating of a couple at an apartment complex in suburban Denver.
DENVER — Eleven people, including several members of a Venezuelan gang, may face criminal charges in connection with the violent kidnapping and beating of a couple this week at an apartment complex in a Denver suburb, police said Friday.
Eight of these suspects were detained by federal Immigration, Customs and Enforcement after initially being detained by police in Aurora, and another three have yet to be arrested. No charges have been filed yet.
Some of the suspects have been identified as members of Tren de Aragua, a gang that started in a notoriously lawless Venezuelan prison, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said during a news conference providing an update on the case.
One of the suspects is a man who was one of six armed men who knocked on the door of the complex in an apartment viral video in August, shortly before a fatal shooting outside, Chamberlain said. Police believe the 20-year-old man wore a woman’s wig and hat to avoid being found by police at the time, Chamberlain said.
The man was already wanted by the police for burglary and threats based on what was seen in the video. With his arrest in the latest incident, four of the six men from the August video have now been taken into custody.
Chamberlain said this week’s attack on a man and woman stemmed from a video the woman took last month of two women fighting in the complex, which also showed other people engaging in criminal behavior. The video was posted online, he said.
The armed group that accosted the couple took them to a vacant apartment where the couple was tied up and beaten and the husband was stabbed, he said. The suspects took the woman’s phone and destroyed the footage of the fight, Chamberlain said. Their apartment was also broken into, he said.
The couple also told police that the people who held them for about five hours had regularly extorted $500 from them, Chamberlain said. Police are investigating whether other residents were also forced to pay the suspects, he said.