A trio of masked gunmen were caught on camera raiding a home in a Denver suburb and stealing a motorcycle as the Democratic city is overrun by immigrant gangs.
Commerce City police shared surveillance footage showing three masked and hooded suspects arriving at a suburban home with the garage door open early Thursday morning.
Two of them were seen carrying what police described as a pistol and an AR-style rifle, and then used flashlights to look around the garage.
The suspects eventually got down on one knee and pulled a motorcycle out of the garage, before fleeing in what police describe as an older, dark-colored Ford pickup truck with a silver stripe on the bottom.
“We always take property crimes seriously… but when you bring an AR-style rifle to a home burglary or vehicle theft, we can’t help but wonder how much worse it could have been and how dangerous you really are,” police wrote in a post that has apparently since been deleted. according to KDVR.
Commerce City police are searching for a trio of masked gunmen who were caught brandishing weapons when they broke into a suburban home Thursday.
The trio are accused of stealing a motorcycle from the home, which had the garage door open.
It remains unclear whether the motorcycle thieves were part of a gang of Venezuelan immigrants that has taken over the nearby town of Aurora.
In July, the Tren de Aragua gang was blamed for a shooting in a Target parking lot.
“Those Venezuelans are taking over the country,” a man is heard saying in a video posted to TikTok by user 100packsavvy.
Images from July 29 show chaos in a Target parking lot in Aurora, where Venezuelans had gathered for a weekend rally over elections in their homeland.
The thieves were caught on camera shining their flashlights into the garage.
Although the demonstration was largely peaceful, migrants invaded the mall, taking over the entire mall, with their cars packed together, bumper to bumper.
This forced Target and other retailers in the area to close early, for fear that their customers could be caught up in the protests, according to Telemundo Denver.
As night fell, the trash-strewn parking lot went from disgusting to dangerous.
Police ended up responding to several incidents, including gunfire, the Spanish-language outlet reported.
TikTok users who recorded the video said he and his companions were almost run over.
“We almost got run over,” says a man.
In July, the immigrant gang was also blamed for a shooting in a Target parking lot.
Then last week, a heavily armed mob was seen storming an apartment complex in Aurora brandishing weapons.
A man in a hoodie can also be seen carrying a high-powered rifle and pounding on a door of the building, while several others hold handguns.
“A GANG HAS TAKEN OVER several apartment complexes in Aurora!” wrote local councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky on X.
The couple who filmed the inauguration at The Edge at Lowry on Wednesday, Cindy and Edward Romero, also said Fox 31 which was recorded shortly before a shooting occurred at the complex, leaving one person seriously injured and several vehicles damaged.
“It’s been a nightmare and I can’t wait to get out of here,” said Cindy Romero as she packed her belongings to flee the crime-ravaged city.
Images appear to capture an armed Venezuelan gang taking control of an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado
The gang members run up the stairs, carrying weapons. In the background, the men can be heard speaking Spanish to each other.
The couple had installed an elaborate system of locks running from the top of the door to the bottom before the shooting.
“Every day when we come home, we have to do this every time we go out to take out the trash,” Cindy said, demonstrating how the locks worked.
“Every time we go to sleep at night, we have to stay like this so that no one can break down the door,” he added.
Police have refused to confirm whether the gunmen in the apartment complex video belong to the infamous Tren de Aragua cartel, but council member Jurinksy said Fox 31 that the building had been invaded by a Venezuelan gang.
“It’s not just about Americans. This gang is extorting other Venezuelans,” Jurinsky said.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman also told FOX News On Thursday, “several buildings” in the city “have fallen into the hands of these Venezuelan gangs.”
He said he believed the buildings were used as taxpayer-funded housing for immigrants, giving gangs a foothold.
“This is an organized criminal enterprise,” the Republican mayor said. “Whether this is a trend or a war on drugs remains to be seen.”
“They have actually driven the property management out through intimidation and then collected the rents.”
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said there are “several buildings” that have “fallen into the hands of these Venezuelan gangs” in the city.
Coffman said the city is a “victim” of federal policy and Denver’s sanctuary city policy.
“I think we are victims of a failed policy on the southern border,” he said, adding that “Venezuela does not cooperate with the United States on criminal charges.”
‘They’ve had these massive waves of immigrants crossing the border, many of them crossed the border illegally, they arrested us, they asked us for political asylum, they didn’t vet us properly, they released us into the country, into the city of Aurora.
“We did everything we could to, frankly, keep them out of town because it’s not our problem. It’s a federal problem.”
Under the Biden administration, which named Vice President Kamala Harris as its “border czar,” illegal immigration into the United States has soared to eight million crossings. It is now expected to rise to ten million by the end of September.
The migration crisis has since moved to the city: more than 40,000 people are reported to have arrived in the Denver area since December 2022.
The problem in Colorado has been exacerbated by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ policies that make it easier for immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, attend school and access taxpayer-funded resources.
But Polis has argued that the immigrant takeover is a figment of Councilwoman Jurinsky’s “imagination.”
“The governor has already let the mayor know that the state stands ready to support the local police department with the assistance of state troopers and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,” said Shelby Wieman, a spokeswoman for the governor. he told the New York Post.
Venezuela’s most violent gang, Tren de Aragua, has moved its headquarters across the U.S. border to the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez.
“But according to police information, this alleged invasion is largely a figment of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination.”
The spokesperson went on to say that “it is illegal to take possession of buildings in Colorado” and that if Jurinsky has “knowledge of such activity,” the governor’s office is “ready to assist law enforcement in repossessing them.”
Asked again by the Post whether Polis wants to retract his statement, given the video evidence from the inauguration, Wieman said the governor “really hopes the city council members in charge will stop destroying their own city when they’re supposed to 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 assistance to support their efforts if requested,” he said, adding that the governor’s office expects violent crime to continue to decline in the city, as it did in 2022 and 2023.
