An armed home invasion at The Edge at Lowry Apartments in Aurora, Colorado, resulted in 14 suspects being detained in what police are calling “without question a gang incident.”
Around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, a group of 13 to 15 people, including both males and females, forcibly entered an apartment where two migrant victims were present. The suspects kidnapped the victims, bound them, and took them to another apartment within the same complex, where they were beaten, pistol-whipped, and threatened, Fox News reported.
One of the victims, a man, was stabbed but is expected to recover, while both victims remain hospitalized. After being released by the suspects, the victims contacted police.
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain described the abuse as torture and stated there is a strong assumption the suspects may be affiliated with the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, though he stopped short of confirming the gang’s identity.
“They were pistol-whipped, they were beat, they were mistreated,” Chamberlan said, Fox News reported. “So does that fall in the category of torture for me? Yeah, it does.”
“This is without question a gang incident. I don’t know which gang they are affiliated with yet,” he added.
Chamberlain said that “there is a high assumption that they may be affiliated with the TdA [Tren de Aragua] gang.”
The same apartment complex gained notoriety earlier this year after a viral video showed armed TdA members in its stairwells and hallways.
Chamberlain noted that while police have heavily focused on the area, some gang members involved in prior incidents have likely fled. The investigation into this gang-related attack is ongoing.