Cover-up? What Aurora officials already knew about rising Venezuelan gang violence

City officials in Aurora, Colorado, repeatedly denied the growing threat of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua despite apparent early warnings, according to emails obtained by Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky.

In a Wednesday post on X, Jurinsky shared an internal Aurora Police Department email dated November 16, 2023, from Gang Intervention Unit Officer Matthew Walters to Chief of Police Chris Poppe and several other colleagues.

'The liberal media and some politicians want you to believe that it is okay for people to live like this because it's just a handful of apartment complexes and not the entire city of Aurora.'

Walters explained that he had attached a "Gang Unit Bulletin" on TDA, which he planned to share with the entire department the following day. He noted that the announcement included information provided to him by a Homeland Security Investigations sergeant and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, according to a photo of the email.

The ICE officer "stated TdA has decided to make Denver their headquarters due to sanctuary policies and location," Walters apparently wrote.

Poppe replied, asking Walters, "Is there any Aurora-centric info that could be included in the bulletin? Known addresses, or hangouts, or specifics cops should be aware of?"

In another X post, Jurinsky leaked a June 30 department email regarding an incident at Whispering Pines Apartments, owned by CBZ Management. According to the correspondence, a cleaning crew worker reported being "threatened ... to give up the keys to the vacant apartments … so that a group of Venezuelans could move people into" the complex.

"Suspects left but not before warning her to comply or else they would kill her and her family," the email continued, according to the photo.

The suspects reportedly stated that they had the building "under surveillance and that they had over 200 people working for them."

"I would highly recommend you guys to take 2-3 friends with you when responding to any calls there," the department email added.

In an email, Major Crime Homicide Unit Sergeant Jeff Longnecker stated, "I would be happy to go over this case with anyone that still denies this is a major problem."

Longnecker was referring to a murder, but it is not clear from the email which case precisely.

He expressed frustration that multiple agencies appeared to have opened criminal investigations into TDA, but "nobody seems to be able to work with each other."

"As soon as this group kills an innocent person all hell is going to break lose and I would hate for us all to be exposed for not sharing information with each other and/or not being able to show that we have dedicated proactive units and investigative units directly impacting this problem," Longnecker wrote.

Jurinsky torched some city leaders for downplaying the severity of the situation.

In a separate post on X, she stated, "The liberal media and some politicians want you to believe that it is okay for people to live like this because it's just a handful of apartment complexes and not the entire city of Aurora. I ask again what the threshold is for these 'leaders' to care?"

CBZ Management wrote in a post on social media this week, "The police knew about the TDA gangs taking over our properties - as early as Sept 22, 2023 - and didn't warn us! Worse, they put the onus of security on our employees without us knowing the danger!"

The company shared another leaked internal department email dated September 2023, with the subject line "Tren de Aragua."

"According to interviews from residence [sic] Tren de Aragua is working out of Aurora and residing in our city," the sergeant's email apparently read.

Ryan Luby, a city of Aurora spokesperson, told the Denver Gazette, "We must remember that police departments and the justice system as a whole must rely on admissible evidence, not hearsay, rumors and fragments of information."

"Contrary to claims made on social media and by select news organizations, the city, including APD, has remained consistent in responses on this matter," Luby wrote in a Thursday statement to the news outlet.

Luby also pushed back on CBZ Management, telling the Denver Gazette, "Instead of expending the resources to address the documented issues, CBZ and its stakeholders have hired a team of attorneys and, as we learned today, a Florida-based public relations firm to engage in diversionary tactics, fight the city in its city charter-mandated duties to enforce city code, and alternative narratives with many of you."

Governor Jared Polis' office told the news outlet that the governor's office is "committed to supporting local law enforcement and their work to keep our communities safe."

Polis previously called TDA's takeover of apartment complexes "largely a feature of Danielle Jurinsky's imagination."

"The state was first notified by Homeland Security in late July that they were monitoring activity in Aurora, the state then immediately reached out to the city of Aurora, including the Governor reaching out to the Mayor, to offer any assistance needed," the governor's office told the Denver Gazette. "When Governor Polis met with Mayor Coffman in late July, we were informed that the city did not have a strong criminal case yet and the state offered dedicated investigative support in the form of Troopers and CBI agents to work cases, and DHSEM provided analysts to support investigations to identify and arrest known criminal gang elements."

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