Blog > The TRUTH Behind The Venezuelan Gang Takeovers In Aurora
Aurora Venezuelan Gang Takeover: What's Actually True
I drove through Aurora to see the Venezuelan gang takeover claims for myself. The truth sits between the viral hype and the political downplay, and it centers on three specific apartment buildings.
Which Aurora apartment buildings were actually taken over?
Three specific Aurora apartment complexes are at the center of the story: The Edge at Lowry, Whispering Pines, and Fitzsimons Place.
All three buildings are run by the same property management group, and possibly the same ownership. I drove past each one, and the common thread is decades of slumlord neglect. These properties have had shootings, break-ins, and gang activity going back years, long before any Venezuelan migrants arrived.
The Edge at Lowry sits just south of East Colfax on Dallas Street. Fitzsimons Place is a few blocks east, right by the revitalized VA Hospital and the new Hyatt House. Whispering Pines is across I-225 on Helena Street, in what otherwise feels like a suburban neighborhood with newer townhomes in the $300,000 to $400,000 range.
When people claim "entire city blocks" or large sections of Aurora have been taken over, that's false. The issue is concentrated in these three poorly managed properties, not the broader city.
Is Tren de Aragua really running these Aurora apartments?
Residents interviewed on the ground confirmed Tren de Aragua presence, but described it as opportunistic occupation rather than a full operational takeover.
Investigative journalist Nick Shirley went into The Edge at Lowry and spoke Spanish with actual residents. Their answers contradict the viral narrative that gangs are collecting rent and running the buildings like landlords.
What residents said: the owners stopped collecting rent months ago because the buildings were close to being condemned. That created an opening. Venezuelan migrants moved into vacant units, and gang-affiliated individuals among them started doing break-ins, shakedowns, and intimidation inside the buildings.
That's different from "the gang owns the building." There's no evidence Tren de Aragua is collecting rent or controlling access citywide. Residents also pointed out that this neighborhood has always had shootings. A shooting from two nights before the interview was immediately blamed on Venezuelans, but the area has had violent crime for years.
Real problem, yes. Citywide takeover, no.
What are Aurora officials saying about the gang situation?
Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky broke the story roughly five weeks before national coverage, while Mayor Mike Coffman and Governor Jared Polis have publicly downplayed the scope.
Jurinsky was the first elected official to go public. She'd been helping residents get out of the slumlord-run buildings and confirmed the issue is geographically isolated, but warned it will spread if ignored. She specifically used the phrase "actual gang takeovers in these apartment complexes."
Mayor Coffman has taken the position that the problem is localized. I partly agree with him on geography, but his framing minimizes how serious the conditions inside those three buildings actually got.
Governor Polis has stepped back entirely, saying the state will assist if Aurora requests it. That's politically convenient. It lets him avoid owning the immigration angle while putting Coffman on the spot.
Meanwhile, Denver has accepted around 40,000 migrants over the past couple of years as a sanctuary city. That spillover into surrounding cities like Aurora is real, whether officials want to discuss it or not.
Are the Hell's Angels really coming to Aurora?
Rumors that the Hell's Angels are riding into Aurora to handle Tren de Aragua are circulating online, but there's zero credible evidence.
I don't buy it for a second. If the Hell's Angels were in the business of solving city-level gang problems, where are they in Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York? Those cities have far bigger organized crime issues than three apartment buildings in Aurora.
The Hell's Angels operate as a criminal organization themselves. They don't show up as vigilantes unless their direct business interests are threatened. A few hundred Venezuelan migrants in slumlord apartments off Colfax isn't disrupting any motorcycle club's revenue.
This rumor is classic social media bandwagon content. It gets clicks because it sounds dramatic and frames the story as Americans-versus-foreigners. But it's conjecture from creators who don't live here and haven't been on the ground.
The actual response is more boring and more real: Aurora police presence, code enforcement, security guards posted at the buildings, and one property already boarded up and condemned.
How does this affect Aurora and Denver property values?
The affected buildings sit within a roughly half-mile stretch along East Colfax between Quebec Street and I-225, not across all of Aurora.
Context matters here. A few blocks south and north of these buildings, you have multi-million dollar homes. Fitzsimons Place is next door to the rebuilt VA Hospital, new condo developments, and the Hyatt House hotel. Across I-225, you're in straight suburban Aurora with new townhome construction.
For buyers considering Aurora or east Denver, the relevant question isn't "is Aurora unsafe." It's "what's the specific block I'm buying on." That's true for every neighborhood in the metro.
The national attention is a double-edged sword. Headlines hurt short-term perception. But the same attention is forcing the city to clean up properties that have been neglected for decades. One of the three buildings is already condemned. That's actually progress for the surrounding neighborhood.
I cover the actual market impact in detail in my latest Denver market report, which separates the noise from the numbers.
Video Chapters
Full Video Transcript
Full transcript from this video, organized by chapter. Click any timestamp to jump to that moment in the video.
Introduction & Overview
[0:00] want to know the truth about what's going on in Aurora Colorado with the Venezuelan gang scenario and these takeovers that are happening All Around Town well I'm setting out in the Mean Streets of Aurora to find out for myself cuz I want to know cuz I don't exactly believe what's being said on both sides of the scenario in the media so join me I'm going to show you where I'm driving around so you get an idea of where this stuff is happening and we're going to look at what other creators and investigators have drummed up for themselves and see if we can actually get a stronger position on what the heck is actually going on one side is saying that this stuff is all made up and it's really localized and there's just some gang activity and the other side is saying that there's complete takeovers of apartment buildings by these Venice whing gangs particularly Trend araga there seems to be a lot of misinformation floating around out there every opinion is being given waight for some reason and I just don't think there's a whole lot of stuff that we factually know about what is going on then we're going to talk about what some of these people are saying from the councilwoman uh Danielle jinsky uh who is kind of the front runner of coming out with this information Governor polus uh the Mayor Mike Kaufman of Aurora and then you know what some journalists have been finding down on the streets doing interviews and there have been some incredible ones so much so that they're way better than what I could have done so I'm not going to try to duplicate them I'm just going to reference them and tell you what they found so I am actually driving down kfax right now and I am heading east uh towards Aurora so I'm currently in Denver crossing over Quebec on about a half a mile or so yose is the cuto off line between Denver and Aurora not that you'd ever know it but I want to show you kind of the transition of what's going on in the town to really show you you know what's going on we can already see there a sign right on the side here stop human trafficking police and forcement like there is being a show of force right now happening because of all the attention that things are getting but I mean there's still dude riding his bike out here there's multi-million dollar homes just a couple blocks to the south of me uh and to the north of me like it's it's a pretty quick transition from hey everything's fine totally normal City to uh I don't know maybe maybe we should look at uh turning around here so the claim that got so much notoriety in the first place was that these Venezuelan gangs were taking over entire apartment buildings now when I hear taking over entire apartment buildings it makes me think they're collecting rent instead of the landlords and they're in complete control of what is going on in those buildings now I've also heard stuff out there like they're taking over the entire city entire city blocks which is a complete false narrative out there right I'm just going to tell you that right now that is not real uh I know that to be a fact I mean I have friends who live around the corner uh from you know where these buildings are so from what I know it's essentially three different apartment buildings and that is The Edge at Lowry Whispering Pines and Fitz Simmons place okay now these are all run by the same Property Management Group I don't know if they're all owned by the same person but there have been problems in each of these buildings going back for decades they've been run by slumlords and you know there's always been problems going on gang activity uh shootings happening you know robberies break-ins happening stuff like that now as I'm driving east here you know you can still see a dude pushing a scooter um you know we do start to see some fences going up around places places being you know kind of boarded up occasionally some old motels that have been shut down here and this first place is just south of kfax on Dallas and 12th I
Driving to Aurora
[4:14] believe so as I turn on to Dallas you can see yeah no there's some there's some folks hanging out you know um bunch of homeless we've got kind of a good siiz homeless population issue I mean over the last what couple of years there's been about 40,000 uh immigrants that the city has allowed in due to being a sanctuary City so you know how that's had an effect that's Denver itself not necessarily Aurora but of course that's going to spill out into other cities around now this is the street that the building is on the Edge at Lowry and I mean it looks like a fairly normal street I don't see a whole lot of you know broken down Vehicles hanging out there's some of that but again this neighborhood hasn't been great for a while
[5:20] now so these buildings on the left here in particular this is the ones that caught a lot of the news attention here for being uh overrun by gangs started with this viral video let's put it up there on the screen what you see in front of you were what was alleged to be quote armed Venezuelan gangs taking over whole buildings and vandalizing public property in Aurora Colorado just outside of Denver now it doesn't look like anything's been shut down you know or anything crazy is happening now the parking lots have kind of been emptied out of the back huge trash piles all around so you know I think with the recent attention on everything it's it's just been you know the police have had to show force and so what happens people scatter right all the criminals realize crap we're all over the news right now this isn't okay you know we got to get the heck out of town or we're going to get picked up um but still there's still people that have houses over here that still have pride of ownership it's not like the whole neighborhood has just you know gone to crap uh you know there's still regular folks living here that want to keep up their properties so the first person to make a lot of noise about this issue was Danielle jinsky she's a council woman here in Aurora she was helping people uh get out of these apartments which are run by slum Lords and these are a few things that she's kind of had to say about this situation I I would say geographically it is sort of isolated to one area right now but this is a large area Aurora is a huge city um so when we talk about isolation this is still very much a a large portion of the city and if this is not addressed it will continue to spread I know you've been very vocal about this for a while now when did you first know that these problems were going on in the community I first realized about the actual gang takeovers in these apartment complexes about five weeks ago so now we're continuing to head back east on kfax here and yeah we've got some more boarded up buildings A lot of these shops are vacant over here you know since Co happened I we've seen you know this part of the neighborhood go south even further which is unfortunate of
Gang Activity Claims
[7:55] course I'm going to give a huge shout out here to Nick Shirley I just came across his video he came down on the ground and was interviewing people at the complex we just drove by there at the edge Lowry and so much credit to Nick like he did a phenomenal job at investigative reporting like I literally cannot duplicate it it's something that I was going to do but he did it so well he speaks Spanish fluently and he interviewed a bunch of people and I want you to hear the things that these people were saying because this is on the ground ladies and gentlemen this is undeniable and this is what these people who lived at the edge at Lowry were saying which kind of contradicts the whole you know these gangs are taking over these buildings watch this is it true that tras has came here to this area
On-Ground Investigation
[9:00] believe that gang activity is actually happening here like bullets we've seen videos of do have guns this neighborhood technically always had shootings there was a shooting two nights ago they blamed it straight on the Venezuelans that this neighborhood has always had shootings now the Venezuelans um they came here and they found free rent free housing because the because the owners of these places are not they never they really were slumlords
[9:33] who do you guys pay rent to and so you say the landlord is not collecting rent so are the gangs now coming in and charging people as I said I mean there's been issues with these buildings for a while now being run by slum Lords like that's going to present a lot of issues in these buildings and it just seems like from what these people are saying who live there was that it was just kind of an opportunity where it was easier to take a foothold in these buildings because they weren't actually being managed I mean the landlord hasn't even been collecting rent for the last few months because these places on the are on the verge of getting condemned so I think it makes it really easy for these gangs to go in do a bunch of break-ins start collecting money you know doing shakedowns to people I am by no means saying that hey this is okay like no this is a problem like we have an issue going on here that absolutely needs to get handled so now this is just a handful of blocks away from Fitz Simmons place which is where one of the other two uh buildings are that are saying they're being taken over by Venezuelan gangs so here we are on the left you can see you know this boarded up place so this has been completely condemned right it is boarded up there should be no one living at that building anymore um it has been completely kicked out they've got security guards on staff here uh around the clock to make sure nothing's going on so that building gosh if they've taken care of that in a matter of a week I am really impressed if they just kind of flushed out all the criminals now we just passed the building at Fitz Simmons which this is right by the new VA Hospital which has been totally revitalized so I mean you have Hyatt House here which is a nice new hotel next to a bunch of new condo buildings right up the street there like this all of a sudden looks like a nice part of town so now we're heading across 225 still staying on kfax this is the Hub of where a lot of bad bad stuff can happen uh and so we're going to go check out the last building Whispering Pines kind of seeing what it's like seeing if it's like the first two or not now on one hand we have a lot of creators people who don't live here who are saying things like the following a Venezuelan migrant Gang has infiltrated a suburb outside of Denver Colorado and for the last 5 days the media and law enforcement and even Colorado state government has been lying and gaslighting residents and the rest of the country let's get to Venezuela not just the country but uh basically has taken over parts of Aurora Colorado and this is all conjecture right this is all the click baity stuff they say they know exactly what's going on and you know we tend to follow the people that we like and you know I I guess I can't blame them for getting on the bandwagon to talk about what's going on but it's stuff like that that made me really want to dig into this to find out what's going on and then on the other hand we have people that are in the camp that are trying to down play it completely right your usual suspects the mayor of Aurora saying hey this is super localized which I kind of agree it's a little bit localized but it's not saying that we don't have a problem here uh and then we have governor polus who is saying that you know nope it's not an issue and we're taking a back seat to the mayor of Aurora which is the right thing to do and if they need assistance they know we're here to help them out so polus is kind of taking a back seat and throwing the mayor of a Aurora under the bus but there is so much heat out there and it is really starting to get national attention but all is not lost the Hell's Angels are coming to town ladies and [Music] gentlemen America already has its own organizations and criminal elements and none of them are taking too kindly to any of this one in specifically who's been rumored to be stepping up and we're going to talk about that right now is the Hell's Angel but I don't believe for one second that the Hell's Angels are coming to town like why would they stick their nose in this mess here I mean unless they disrupted their direct business dealings like I can't imagine that the Hell's Angels are all of a sudden going to be stepping up to the plate and going hey we're going to go solve Denver's problems like okay well if that's the case where are they in Chicago where are they in La where are they in New York solving these problems like I don't buy into this for a second and you can see here on the other side of 225 there's a totally different vibe that gets picked up right it just feels more Suburban uh lots more places were built in the '90s and the early 2000s uh and so you wouldn't even guess like there's bad stuff happening just around the court I mean there's a bunch of new builds just off to my right here you know newer Town Homes of the3 to $400,000 range so I'll be interested to see this next one
Building Takeovers & Slumlords
Government Response Critique
[14:54] honestly all right so we just turned the corner on to Helena which is where this next apartment complex is ah this is the one of the news that they showed the other day where uh there were a lot of people that were protesting saying hey it's not the Venezuelan gangs uh you know the only people who are criminals here are the uh slum Lords of this place and you know that's that's coming from the people that actually live in these buildings you know but again here H here we go city of Aurora Public Works now I don't think that's security but they are showing a presence here right at all three of these buildings to tell people you know what we're not dealing with this crap anymore so that's kind of the silver lining in all of this right no matter what you believe whether you believe that this problem is much bigger and you know Biden's to blame on letting all these people in and stuff yeah that's definitely attributed to the immigration issue that we're having in Denver here that's spilling out in other cities around the Denver metro area you know if you're in the other camp where you know you believe what polus and the mayor of Aurora are saying and wanting to downplay it a little bit it doesn't matter because what's happening is that we are getting national attention right now for what's going on here in Aurora which I'm sure the governor hates it I'm sure the mayor hates it and all the people politically involved but on another hand it's getting so much attention right now that they have no choice but to come in and do what needs to be done to solve these problems and this is going to be something that keeps getting reported on until probably the election honestly and yes I am a dreaded real estate agent but if you do want to keep in touch with me if you do find this information valuable you can scan this QR code up on your screen here and you can be a part of my weekly email I'll keep you updated as to what's going on yes property values things like that and then other big news articles like what's going on here right now in Denver and Aurora and if you did miss my latest market report where I talk about if this stuff going on in Aurora is actually affecting property values go ahead check it out right here
Broader Immigration Context
Closing Remarks
Frequently Asked Questions
Which three Aurora apartment buildings are involved?
The Edge at Lowry on Dallas Street, Fitzsimons Place near the VA Hospital, and Whispering Pines on Helena Street across I-225. All three are managed by the same property management group and have a long history of slumlord-level neglect predating any Venezuelan migrant presence.
Is Tren de Aragua actually in Aurora?
Yes, there is Tren de Aragua presence inside the affected buildings, confirmed by residents interviewed on the ground. However, they aren't collecting rent or running the buildings as landlords. They moved into vacant units after the actual owners stopped managing the properties and have engaged in break-ins and shakedowns.
Has Aurora been taken over by Venezuelan gangs?
No. Claims of citywide or block-wide takeover are false. The issue is concentrated in three specific apartment complexes within a small geographic area along East Colfax. The broader city, including suburban Aurora across I-225, is unaffected and functioning normally.
Why did this gang activity happen in these specific buildings?
The owners stopped collecting rent and effectively abandoned management because the buildings were near condemnation. That created free housing and zero oversight. Gang-affiliated individuals took advantage of the lack of management to operate inside, which wouldn't have happened in a properly run complex.
Are Denver and Aurora still safe to move to?
Yes, for the vast majority of neighborhoods. This story affects three specific buildings along a stretch of East Colfax. Most of Aurora and Denver, including nearby areas like Lowry and the new VA Hospital district, remain stable. Always evaluate the specific block, not the city headline.
Is this related to Denver's sanctuary city status?
Indirectly, yes. Denver has accepted roughly 40,000 migrants over the past couple of years. That population pressure has spilled into surrounding cities including Aurora. Local officials avoid connecting the two publicly, but the timing and scale of the migrant intake is part of the backdrop.
What are Aurora police and the city doing about it?
Police presence has increased significantly at all three buildings. One property has been boarded up and condemned with round-the-clock security guards. Code enforcement and public works crews are visibly active. National attention has effectively forced city officials to act faster than they otherwise would have.
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