Aurora Police Identify More Gunmen in Viral Video; No Venezuelan gang connections were reported

AURORA | Aurora police say they have identified two additional suspects seen in a viral video of an Aurora apartment that has become the focus of a firestorm of misinformation and controversy over controversial Venezuelan gang activity in the city.

Neither the two new suspects — nor three others previously identified or arrested after they were seen in the video carrying weapons at The Edge apartment complex — were associated with Venezuelan gangs or a 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. Both face felony charges of first-degree burglary and threatening with a firearm.

The two men were among four others seen on Aug. 18 in surveillance camera video captured by tenants of the apartment building at East 12th Avenue and Dallas Street.

Police said the video was taken outside the apartment shortly before a fatal shooting. 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 caused a national uproar after Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky claimed on local and national television shows without evidence that the apartment complex and others had been overrun by Venezuelan gang members of the Tren de Aragua prison gang.

Police have repeatedly said that a variety of gang activity takes place in some buildings and areas of Aurora, but they have disputed claims from apartment owners that gangs have raided buildings and made it impossible to manage the complexes. Jurinsky has amplified these unproven claims to Fox News and other media outlets.

Republicans and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seized on the chaos, saying that the entire city of Aurora was overrun by Venezuelan gang members and that they were now even taking over all of Colorado, according to multiple Associated Press reports on Trump's rallies.

The viral video shows six men brandishing various firearms and climbing the communal stairs in the building. The men knock on an apartment door and go inside.

Five of the men in the video have now been identified. One of the men, 21-year-old Naudi Lopez-Fernandez, is in custody, police said. Two other men seen in the video, Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 25, and Niefred Jose Serpa-Acosta, 20 – both charged with first-degree burglary and felony menacing – are still at large.

Aurora Police Operation Safe Haven is working to determine the identities of all men and determine involvement in criminal activity.

Police said the surveillance footage was taken seven minutes before 25-year-old Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo was killed by gunfire outside the same complex.

But most of the dispute centered on the men inside the complex.

Officers found the scoped rifle shown in the video in a residence near the rifles captured on camera.

The information released so far by police and Chief Todd Chamberlain contradicts claims made by Jurinsky and Mayor Mike Coffman in late August that the men were members of Tren de Aragua.

Although Coffman has since retracted those claims, the false narrative that TdA members overran entire apartment complexes in Aurora has become so viral that Donald Trump is using it as an anti-immigrant talking point in his presidential campaign.

Immigrant relief officials have repeatedly said that the demonization of the large immigrant population, because of the way Trump and others have characterized it, poses a real danger not just to immigrants but to all members of the Latino and Hispanic communities.

During a press conference on September 20, Chamberlain did not rule out the possibility that the suspects were TdA members, noting that diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela – and the refusal of Venezuelan law enforcement to provide information about Criminals or gang members from this country – are affected. make it difficult for the police to prove gang membership.

“The one thing I find positive about most gang members is that they like to brag and are very verbose, and I think after a while you'll find that individuals identify as such or self-identify.” “Yes , I'm a member of the TdA gang” or “Yes, I'm whatever gang you're affiliated with.” But it's going to be a process. It won't happen overnight. It will take some time.”

Chamberlain noted, “We don’t want to misidentify anyone as a gang member.”

He said APD is methodical in its approach.

“You identify someone as a gang member that stays with them for the rest of their life. That’s one thing I won’t do with this agency,” he said. “We will not react to this in a knee-jerk manner. We will be methodical, we will be precise and we will be evidence-based.”

Chamberlain stressed that the police investigation is focused on the suspects' alleged criminal behavior, not their immigration status. He stressed that many Venezuelans are uncomfortable reporting crimes because they are undocumented.

“We want people who are being bullied, we want people who are being abused to come forward,” Chamberlain said. “We want to help and we will help.”

However, he promised to use “every tool” and every opportunity to combine efforts with local, state and federal law enforcement “to ensure that criminals are found and brought to justice.” Still, he noted that “we will not over-surveil the population based on their race or (ethnicity).”

Chamberlain debunked Jurinsky and Coffman's widely publicized statements this summer that TdA and Venezuelan migrants in general had taken over apartment complexes and overrun police:

“This topic is by no means overwhelming for us. We will in no way be overtaken by (Venezuelan) gangs, the 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. They have been the subject of numerous complaints about structural problems, flooding, broken appliances, mold and extensive damage and pest infestations. The city closed Aspen Grove for building and safety code violations, forcing hundreds of mostly Venezuelan residents to find new homes.

Chamberlain signed a nuisance complaint for all three properties last week. Meanwhile, city staff said the owner and management company have been uncooperative in repairing the complexes

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