2 people tortured in gang incident at Aurora apartment complex, police chief says
AURORA, Colo. (KRDO) - 15 people were detained and questioned at an Aurora apartment complex Monday after two people, a man and a woman, were taken against their will to an empty apartment, restained and pistol-whipped before eventually being let go.
According to our news partners in Denver, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said the incident happened Monday night near a building at The Edge at Lowery Apartments on Dallas Street, a complex he's previously described as a "criminal nuisance." He said the victims victims were approached by a group of 13 to 15 armed people and were taken to another location against their will.
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"They were pistol-whipped, they were beat, they were mistreated," Chamberlain said. "One of them, the male, was actually stabbed. He had a stab wound. So does that fall in the category of torture for me? Yeah, it does," Chamberlain said. The chief also said some of the assailants burglarized the victims' apartment. The victims were released after promising to not call police. They eventually drove to a friend's home and called police.
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According to our news partners in Denver, police responded to the apartment complex after speaking with the victims and found 15 people inside one apartment. Investigators ar still working to identify who was involved in the incident.
"All of the individuals involved in this are most likely Venezuelan," Chief Chamberlain said. "Most of them are, without question, or most likely, we believe at this point, undocumented or immigrants to the City of Aurora."
"This is without question a gang incident. I don't know which gang they are affiliated with yet. It might be TdA [the Venezeulan gang Tren de Aragua]. It could not be TdA," Chamberlain said. "We will determine that, and we will find that out. But right now, as I said before, it is incredibly hard to identify specifically as TdA because there is no specific markers, there is no specific identifiers, unless they self-identify as TdA."
