AURORA, Colo. — One year ago, in the middle of growing tension between the owners of a now-shuttered Aurora building on Nome Street and the city, an Aurora Police officer strongly suggested in a report to the apartment’s owners that the building had a blossoming problem with gangs and crime. The report, uncovered by 9NEWS Investigates, said for gang members “the apartment has almost become a badge of honor.”
The Fitzsimons Place apartment, he wrote, was earning a notorious reputation. “Gang members have told me that if you can survive in these apartments, then you are ‘hard,’” he told the owners.
While the officer does not mention the name of any gang or gangs present at the building, the words provide additional context to a problem that appears to have developed well before the apartment’s story became national news.
In one instance, according to the report sent to the owners in October 2023, a shooting was followed by specific threats. “Families of the gang member suspects took pictures of each and every resident they could. They used the pictures to extort them and tell them that if they spoke to police, not only would they be harmed, their families back in Venezuela would also be harmed.”
The documents, obtained by 9NEWS Investigates through an open records request, suggest a growing amount of tension between September 2023 and May 2024.
The city ultimately closed the apartments in August of this year following what city officials called systemic and repeated code violations. The owners, along with a host of politicians, have stated the apartments had become impossible to manage due to the presence of the now-notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
While none of the documents obtained mention TDA, they do provide evidence that the owners had been repeatedly briefed not just about code violations but on the presence of crime as well.
For example, in September 2023, Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo officially deemed the property a public nuisance. “There is an extensive criminal call history for this Property to include Motor Vehicle Theft, Aggravated Assault, Arson and Disturbing the Peace. Notably, crime data indicates crime rates at the property have risen almost 30% since you purchased the property in 2019,” he wrote Zev Baumgarten and Nome Partners LLC.
“I encourage you to take quick and immediate steps to address this criminal nuisance to avoid any court action,” concluded Chief Acevedo.”
The following month, the city told the owners, “The transient population knows of the reputation of 1568 Nome Street and they know this is a place they can exploit for a temporary place to lay their heads in the lobby or use drugs openly.”
In February, a lawyer representing the owners told city officials it was attempting to deal with repeated squatters in some of its units. “We are doing our best to mitigate the problem,” he said.
In April, communication between the lawyer and the city’s manager of licensing grew testy. In addition to confusion over who the actual owner of the property was, Trevor Vaughan said the city wasn’t fully responsible for dealing with crime and code violations on the property.
“The city is not responsible for running the complex, and it has been made abundantly clear what needs to and should be happening on a daily basis," Vaughan wrote. "I think a lot of what I saw were issues that had been that way for days or weeks. I don’t think a code officer is needed to point out piles of trash or broken windows, shopping carts or unlawful cars with no plates."
“Police and I recommend 24-hour security,” he said.
A month later, an employee with the Aurora Police Department asked the owners if they would like Aurora Police to help with that. “We have to staff with two officers,” she wrote.
In August, owners of the complex hired a Florida-based public relations firm to help push their version of events. The owners said the apartment had become unmanageable in recent months due to threats by TDA gang members.
The apartment had become a popular place for Venezuelan migrants to live starting in 2023. Most arrived at the apartment with the financial assistance provided by the state of Colorado and facilitated through a network of non-profits.