A judge in Aurora, Colorado granted the city’s petition to shut down an apartment complex after it rose to national prominence for being impacted by a violent gang. 

The Edge at Lowry will close in February due to “an immediate threat to public safety and welfare if allowed to remain open,” according to the judge’s orders last Friday. The announcement brings an end to the complex’s yearslong saga with Tren de Aragua, the notorious Venezuelan criminal ring whose activity in the apartment buildings captured the country’s attention over the summer and spurred heated debate over the extent of the gang’s presence in the city.

“This place is basically a cancer to the community. And we as a group of stakeholders, as community members, as law enforcement, as the city family, decided this is not going to be tolerated in Aurora,” Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said during a briefing responding to the closure. 

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He had previously written that the complex “is an epicenter for unmitigated violent crimes and property crimes perpetuated by a criminal element that has exerted control and fear over others residing at this apartment complex.”

Ever since a viral video depicting suspected TdA members prowling with guns at the apartment complex captured the country’s attention in September, Aurora officials have been at odds over the extent of the gang activity in the buildings. Some suggested TdA had “taken over” the complex. Others said claims that TdA had done so were grossly exaggerated. 

President-elect Donald Trump prominently raised the issue on the campaign trail last year. He attracted fierce backlash from Democrats for saying that the gang was taking over the apartments and was accused of spewing conspiracies with “ugly” anti-immigrant rhetoric.

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In December, Aurora police detained 16 suspected Tren de Aragua gang members authorities believed were responsible for violently kidnapping, torturing, and beating a couple living in the Edge at Lowry. Authorities said the TdA suspects had regularly mistreated the couple and were extorting them for $500 biweekly payments. 

“As everybody here knows, and as the nation knows, this complex is an incredibly problematic complex. It is an incredibly crime-riddled complex that we have been focusing on, the city of Aurora has been focusing on, and without question, the attention will not stop until every individual who victimizes somebody else will be held accountable or be removed from that complex,” Chamberlain during a press conference addressing the kidnapping detainees.

Of those detained last month, nine TdA suspects were charged on Monday with second-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault, aggravated robbery, second-degree burglary, extortion, and menacing. 

Many of the valid residents living at the Edge at Lowry were new immigrants, of both illegal and legal status, who were sent to live in the complex by local immigrant support groups. 

Chamberlain said many residents targeted by TdA members were handpicked as victims because of their vulnerable illegal status, making them fearful of coming forward to the police. 

Other residents have similarly said gang members repeatedly threatened them, did damage to the buildings, and extorted payments from them, among other unlawful activities. Some residents living in the buildings said they never encountered problems with the gang.

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Residents who have expressed concerns directly contradicted Aurora interim police Chief Heather Morris’s comments in late August that residents were not paying rent to gang members.

“We’ve really made an effort these last few days to ask the specific questions and direct questions in terms of the gang activity and … making sure that people aren’t paying rent to gang leaders, gang members. That’s not happening. And we’ve discovered here today and yesterday, talking with so many residents, that that is not the case.” she said.

CBZ Management, the company that operates the apartment complex, spent months sparing with Aurora officials about the city’s response to the situation and over who was to blame for the complexes’ descent into crime. While the city called them “slumlords” who had abandoned the property and allowed crime to fester, the management company claimed it had been forced to retreat from the complex because it couldn’t protect representatives sent out to check on the property due to the gang’s presence.

The city, CBZ argued, had failed to do its duty to crack down on the gang activity in their building. 

In recent months, officials have found guns hidden in the complex’s walls. Extended magazines, knives, and bullet holes have also been documented at the Edge at Lowry. 

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Chamberlain was pressed on Monday if he would use the word “takeover” as an accurate characterization of the gang’s influence on the complex and the community.

“I wouldn’t say a takeover, but I would definitely say that they had a huge influence in that community,” the police chief said. “I would say that they brought fear to that community. I would say that they definitely have brought victimization.”