Masked gunmen raid home in Denver suburb amid migrant gang fears
Three masked, armed men were caught on camera breaking into a home in a Denver suburb and stealing a motorcycle as the Democratic city is overrun by migrant gangs.
Officers in Commerce City shared surveillance footage showing three masked and hooded suspects arriving at a suburban home early Thursday morning to find the garage door open.
Two of them were seen carrying a firearm and an AR-style rifle, according to police, and then used flashlights to look around the garage.
Eventually, the suspects knelt down and dragged a motorcycle out of the garage, then fled in what police described as a dark-colored, older Ford pickup truck with a silver stripe on the bottom.
“We always take property crime seriously… but when you bring an AR-style rifle to a home invasion/motor vehicle theft, we can’t help but wonder how bad it could have been and how dangerous you really are,” police wrote in a since-deleted post. according to KDVR.
Commerce City police are searching for a trio of masked gunmen who were caught with weapons Thursday when they broke into a suburban home
The trio are accused of stealing a motorcycle from the house, which had its garage door open
It is not yet clear whether the motorcycle thieves are part of a Venezuelan migrant gang that has taken over the nearby town of Aurora.
In July, the Tren de Aragua gang was accused of a shooting in a Target parking lot.
“These Venezuelans are taking over,” a man says in a video posted to TikTok by user 100packsavvy.
Footage from July 29 shows chaos in a Target parking lot in Aurora, where Venezuelans gathered for a weekend protest against their home country’s elections.
The thieves were captured on camera shining their flashlights through the garage
Although the demonstration was largely peaceful, migrants swarmed into the mall, taking it over, with cars packed like sardines, bumper to bumper.
This forced Target and other area retailers to close early, out of fear that their customers would get caught up in the protests, Telemundo Denver reported.
As night fell, the trashed parking lot filled with trash went from disgusting to dangerous.
Police eventually had to respond to multiple incidents, including gunfire, the Spanish-language outlet reported.
The TikTok users who made the video claimed that he and his companions were almost run over.
“We almost got hit,” one man says.
In July, the migrant gang was also blamed for a shooting in a Target parking lot
Just a week ago, a heavily armed mob was seen storming an apartment complex in Aurora, brandishing guns.
A man in a hoodie was also seen carrying a high-powered rifle and banging on a door in the building, while several others wielded pistols.
“A GANG HAS TAKEN OVER SEVERAL APARTMENT COMPLEXES IN AURURI!” wrote local councillor Danielle Jurinsky on X.
The couple who filmed the takeover at The Edge at Lowry on Wednesday, Cindy and Edward Romero, also said Fox 31 that the shooting took place just before a shooting at the complex, which left one person seriously injured and several vehicles damaged.
“It’s a nightmare and I can’t wait to get out of here,” Cindy Romero said as she packed her things to flee the crime-ridden city.
There appears to be footage of an armed Venezuelan gang taking control of an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado
Gang members run up the stairs, guns in hand. In the background, the men can be heard talking to each other in Spanish.
Before the shooting, the couple had installed a complicated system of locks that ran from top to bottom through the door.
“Every day when we come home, we have to do this when we go outside to take out the trash,” Cindy said as she demonstrated how the locks worked.
“Every time we go to bed at night. We have to keep it that way so no one can kick the door in,” she added.
Police have refused to confirm whether the shooters in the apartment complex video belong to the notorious Tren de Aragua cartel, but councillor Jurinksy said Fox 31 that the building had been attacked by a Venezuelan gang.
“These are not just Americans. Other Venezuelans are being extorted by this gang,” Jurinsky said.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman also told FOX News On Thursday, “several buildings” collapsed in the city that “fell into the hands of these Venezuelan gangs.”
He said he believed the buildings were being used as housing for migrants, funded by taxpayers’ money, and that this gave the gangs an opportunity.
“This is an organized criminal enterprise,” the Republican mayor said. “Whether it’s a trend, a drug war, that remains to be seen.”
“They essentially bullied the property management out of the company and then collected the rent.”
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said there are “several buildings” in the city that “have fallen into the hands of these Venezuelan gangs.”
Coffman claimed the city is a “victim” of federal policy and Denver’s “asylum city” policy.
“I think we are the victim of failed policies on the southern border,” he said, arguing: “Venezuela is not cooperating with the United States when it comes to criminal records.
“There have been huge waves of migrants coming across the border. Many of them have crossed the border illegally. We have been arrested, we have applied for political asylum, we have not been properly screened and we have been released back into the country, in the city of Aurora.
“We’ve done everything we can to keep them out of the city, quite frankly, because it’s not our problem. This is a federal problem.”
Under the Biden administration — which appointed Vice President Kamala Harris as “border czar” — illegal immigration into the U.S. has surged to 8 million border crossings, and is expected to reach 10 million by the end of September.
The migrant crisis has now moved into the city, with more than 40,000 people reportedly arriving in the Denver area since December 2022.
The problem in Colorado has been exacerbated by policies of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who have made it easier for immigrants to get driver’s licenses, go to school and access tax dollars.
However, Polis claims that the migrant takeover is a fabrication by Councillor Jurinsky.
“The governor has already informed the mayor that the state is prepared to support local law enforcement with assistance from state troopers and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,” said Shelby Wieman, a spokeswoman for the governor. told the New York Post.
Venezuela’s most violent gang, Tren de Aragua, has moved its headquarters just across the US border in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez
“But according to police intelligence, this alleged invasion was largely a product of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination.”
The spokesperson went on to say that “it is illegal to take over buildings in Colorado” and that if Jurinsky “is aware of any such activity,” the governor’s office “stands ready to assist law enforcement in taking back the buildings.”
When the Post again asked if Polis would retract his statement given the video evidence of the takeover, Wieman said the governor “really hopes the city council members in charge will stop destroying their own city when they should be keeping it safe.”
“Over the past month, Governor Polis has been in regular contact with the City of Aurora and the Aurora Police Department and has offered all state resources to support their efforts if requested,” she said, adding that the governor’s office expects violent crime in the city to continue to decline, as it did in 2022 and 2023.