Inside the migrant gang warzone of Aurora, Colorado

In July, police arrested him again alongside his brother Jhonnarty Dejesus Pacheco-Chirinos — also a Trend de Aragua member — this time for a shooting at the same complex that left two men wounded.
Most of the gang members identified by Aurora cops were busted at the city’s blighted apartment buildings, where trash and broken bottles litter the hallways.

One Aurora landlord told The Post that the gang took advantage of vacancies — and would move into empty units and take over. Then, they’d threaten maintenance workers and staff who tried to clean up the apartments, the source said.

In response, the city has shuttered two apartment complexes and forced the owner of two of the worst crime hotspots to give up control of the buildings.

Montenegro’s old apartment complex, on Dallas Street, has become the most infamous of the city’s apartment blocs — roach-infested, poorly maintained and surrounded by cars with no license plates and others with bullet holes.

In the months before the family fled, Montenegro started hearing gunshots, fights and loud music every night. The final straw was the terrifying encounter with the armed man at her door.

In August, two months after they moved out of the one-bedroom apartment, viral video emerged of heavily armed men — suspected members of Tren de Aragua — banging on the front door of her old unit and trying to get inside.

“It’s not safe there, especially if you have kids. You can hear gunshots, my kids used to walk to school, but they couldn’t feel safe anymore,” she said.

“I think it was the right decision to move out from there.”

Cops have made no arrests from the incident at Montenegro’s old apartment.

Tren de Aragua gang violence isn’t just engulfing Aurora. In Denver, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office busted four people linked to the gang in late August at the Ivy Crossing apartments. During that bust, cops seized 750 counterfeit pills, ketamine and a stolen car.

Arapahoe Sheriff Tyler Brown told The Post that his office received intelligence and saw reports “of individuals walking around with firearms and drug transactions” and sprung to action.

Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Calderon took The Post on a ride-along where the operation occurred — an area he said has “changed quite a bit over the years, with immigrants from different countries moving here.”

However, much is going underreported because the migrant community is fearful of law enforcement thanks to corruption in their home countries, Calderon said.

“They’re very fearful of retribution, they don’t want to talk,” said Calderon.

Residents and local officials said Aurora police have been downplaying the gang problem.

A resident who lives near Montenegro’s old building said he’s fearful of gang retaliation and requested anonymity to speak freely about the threat.

That neighbor told The Post that Aurora police — who just welcomed a new chief — have been unresponsive to their calls about the gunshots and extremely loud music playing all hours of the night.
“I’ve called the cops 20 times in the last month or two and they never come out,” the neighbor said.

He said he feels “totally” helpless.

“They’re way out of control,” the neighbor added.

Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly, whose nearby county has yet to see such gang activity, told The Post “the Aurora police department has minimized this issue.”

“They need somebody who is willing to go in there, straighten out the mess, be committed to the community and solve crime and arrest bad guys, hold criminals accountable,” Weekly said. “They haven’t had that. It’s been a mess.”