Latest news with #TdA
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Suspected Tren de Aragua gang members terrorize apartment complex in shocking doorbell video
An armed crew of nine suspected Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members were caught on camera wreaking havoc at a Colorado apartment complex earlier this month, in an incident Aurora police are calling "very reminiscent" of the violence previously incited in the area by the Venezuelan gang. Doorbell video shows the group pointing guns and repeatedly knocking on an apartment door in a building near 6th Avenue and Potomac Street in Aurora, Colorado, on June 9, Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said during a press conference on Tuesday. "This might sound like déjà vu," Chamberlain said. "… We are addressing this actively, effectively and immediately." The people who lived in the apartment were also from Venezuela and had just moved in two days prior to the incident, Chamberlain noted, acknowledging that it's a good thing the residents did not open the door after hearing the knocking. Two Illegal Venezuelan Immigrants, Suspected Tda Gang Members Charged In Deadly Chicago Mass Shooting "I shudder to think what might have happened to them, but unfortunately that is what we have seen at that apartment complex, and it's what we've been dealing with," he said. Read On The Fox News App Emerging Venezuelan Gang 'More Violent' Than Tren De Aragua Targets Rural America, Expert Warns Following the incident, police began investigating and identifying the suspects in the video. On June 11 and 12, law enforcement arrested two suspects. Four others known to be involved in prior criminal activity were also detained, according to Aurora Police. 11 Alleged Teen Tren De Aragua Gang Members Attack Nypd Officers: Police The investigation to identify and arrest the remaining suspects in the video is ongoing. Since August of last year, the Aurora Police department has received 44 radio calls for service at the apartment complex, which they narrowed down to about 12 separate individual incidents. These calls were related to shots fired, kidnapping, assault, and more, Chamberlain said. "I want everyone to understand and to know that we are ahead of this," Chamberlain said. "This isn't something that we're reacting to. This is something that we are proactively addressing with everything that we can possibly do." The shocking footage comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement works to remove TdA from U.S. soil. In February, the U.S. declared TdA a global terrorist organization. Aurora is the third-largest city in Colorado with a population of more than 398,000, according to the City of Aurora website. Last summer, an Aurora apartment complex was at the center of the TdA gang takeover controversy after a viral video showed heavily armed gang members taking over an apartment by busting down the door with heavy artillery. Earlier this year, nine suspected TdA members were charged following a violent home invasion, kidnapping and robbery in Aurora. Aurora Police did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for article source: Suspected Tren de Aragua gang members terrorize apartment complex in shocking doorbell video
New York Post
01-06-2025
- New York Post
‘Violent Venezuelan alien' with possible Tren de Aragua ties caught with knife during ICE takedown in San Diego: video
🎥Watch our special agents confiscate a knife from a violent Venezuelan alien resisting arrest. This arrest was part of an operation that resulted in eight arrests — including one TdA member — with help from federal partners in San Diego May 29. Our officers and agents often… ICE agents confiscated a knife from a 'violent' Venezuelan migrant with possible gang ties during a tense arrest in San Diego captured on video and released by federal officials Saturday. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shared the video on X, showing agents pinning the suspect to the ground outside what appears to be a residential building during a May 29 operation. After taking him down, officers removed a knife from the man. The arrest was one of eight that day, part of a targeted operation supported by federal partners in San Diego. ICE says one of those taken into custody is a confirmed member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). It is unclear if the man in the video is the gang member. 'Our officers and agents often face extremely violent criminals carrying knives or firearms,' ICE wrote in the post. 'Securing our nation can be exceptionally dangerous, but our officers and agents are honored to protect our communities.' 4 Federal agents tackle a man during a string of arrests in San Diego, Calif., on May 29, 2025. ICE 4 After taking him down, officers removed a knife from the man. ICE While the suspect is seen resisting arrest, he does not appear to brandish the knife, but officers locate and secure it quickly during the takedown. TdA is a powerful transnational criminal gang that originated in Venezuela and has rapidly spread across Latin America and into the US. Law enforcement agencies warn the group is involved in drug trafficking, extortion and smuggling operations, often targeting migrant communities. ICE has not released the names or statuses of those arrested. 4 Law enforcement agents search a man on the side of a road during the operation. ICE 4 Officers detain a third man in the video released by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement X account. ICE San Diego has become a hot spot in the broader border crisis, where criminal networks increasingly exploit weak enforcement at the southern border. ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Violent Venezuelan alien' with possible TdA ties caught with knife during ICE takedown in San Diego: video
ICE agents confiscated a knife from a "violent" Venezuelan migrant with possible gang ties during a tense arrest in San Diego captured on video and released by federal officials Saturday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shared the video on X, showing agents pinning the suspect to the ground outside what appears to be a residential building during a May 29 operation. After taking him down, officers removed a knife from the man. Two Illegal Venezuelan Immigrants, Suspected Tda Gang Members Charged In Deadly Chicago Mass Shooting The arrest was one of eight that day, part of a targeted operation supported by federal partners in San Diego. ICE says one of those taken into custody is a confirmed member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). It is unclear if the man in the video is the gang member. Read On The Fox News App "Our officers and agents often face extremely violent criminals carrying knives or firearms," ICE wrote in the post. "Securing our nation can be exceptionally dangerous, but our officers and agents are honored to protect our communities." While the suspect is seen resisting arrest, he does not appear to brandish the knife, but officers locate and secure it quickly during the takedown. Two Venezuelan Illegal Aliens Charged With Kidnapping, Torturing, Attempting To Kill Washington State Woman TdA is a powerful transnational criminal gang that originated in Venezuela and has rapidly spread across Latin America and into the U.S. Law enforcement agencies warn the group is involved in drug trafficking, extortion and smuggling operations, often targeting migrant communities. ICE has not released the names or statuses of those arrested. San Diego has become a hot spot in the broader border crisis, where criminal networks increasingly exploit weak enforcement at the southern border. ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for article source: 'Violent Venezuelan alien' with possible TdA ties caught with knife during ICE takedown in San Diego: video
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
WATCH: US intel's take on TdA gang misses mark on ties to Maduro regime, ex-Venezuela army officer says
A former high-ranking officer in the Venezuelan military is contesting a recent report by the U.S. intelligence community about the massive Tren de Aragua gang present throughout the country. Jose Arocha, who is a former lieutenant colonel in the Venezuelan military, told Fox News Digital that the recent intel community report denying Tren de Aragua is linked to the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is missing a key aspect: the socialist regime's animosity towards the United States and penchant for asymmetric warfare. Tren de Aragua, also known simply as TdA, is a violent Venezuelan gang that has been terrorizing U.S. cities over the last several years. The group is linked to high-profile murders such as the killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the seizure of an entire apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. As one of his first moves back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump directed the State Department to designate TdA a "foreign terrorist organization." Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin To Move On Ending Legal Protections For Some Venezuelan Migrants Speaking with Fox News Digital via Zoom, Arocha, a national security expert at the Center for a Secure Free Society, said he agrees with the Trump administration's moves against Tren de Aragua, which he believes is an "asymmetrical warfare" tool of the Maduro regime to sow discord in the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. Read On The Fox News App "The Maduro regime doesn't need to send troops to the USA. It sends criminals instead," he said. "TdA is a plug-and-play insurgency – assembled in prison, deployed abroad." Arocha's statements, however, contrast with a new public memo released by U.S. intelligence agencies last month that denied any solid connection between the Maduro government in Caracas and the gang. "While Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States," the report states. The report says that the intelligence community based its conclusion "on Venezuelan law enforcement actions demonstrating the regime treats TDA as a threat; an uneasy mix of cooperation and confrontation rather than top-down directives [that] characterize the regime's ties to other armed groups; and the decentralized makeup of TDA that would make such a relationship logistically challenging." Arocha, meanwhile, said that "the missing point here is that the intelligence report is too narrow a lens about the TdA." "It's about crime and migration, but they're missing the warfare dimension," he said. "They are missing that for the Maduro regime, the United States is the enemy, has been the enemy for years." Violent Venezuelan Gang Exploits Technology To Turbocharge Its Dominance: Experts "The TdA is not a gang," he went on. "It's the enabler arm of the Venezuelan regime in the hybrid warfare strategy, the asymmetrical tour of war. That's the missing point. And that is the point that explains how a local gang is right now in more than 10 countries, including the United States. That's incredible, and that is not possible without a state sponsor behind them." While the report points to law enforcement actions the Maduro government has taken against TdA, Arocha explained that in reality Venezuelan prisons, including the "Tocorón" prison where the gang started, are more like resort hotels. "Tocorón, [which] they said is the epicenter of the crime in Venezuela, it wasn't a prison, it was a palace for organized crime. Full equipment, we have a zoo, nightclubs and even a pool for the prisoners there," he said. Arocha also posited that the 2023 raid the Venezuelan government conducted on Tocorón "appears choreographed" and that key TdA leadership was able to escape through pre-made tunnels. "While the regime gained optics of cracking down on crime, TdA's mobility remained intact," Arocha told Fox News Digital. 11 Alleged Teen Tren De Aragua Gang Members Attack Nypd Officers: Police The intel report admitted that the escaped TdA members were "possibly assisted by low-level Venezuelan military and political leaders." But to Arocha, the connection goes straight to the top. He pointed to the kidnapping and murder of Venezuelan political dissident Ronald Ojeda in Chile, which, according to Reuters, is being investigated by the Chilean government as a possible Tren de Aragua operation sponsored by the Maduro government. Click Here For More Immigration Coverage Reuters reported in March that Chilean Attorney General Angel Valencia said that Ojeda's murder "doesn't have the characteristics of a normal crime" and "all the evidence we have at this state of the investigation lets us conclude that a cell or group linked to the Tren de Aragua that was politically motivated that originated from an order of a political nature." The outlet also reported that the Venezuelan government denied the accusations as baseless. Arocha further pointed to former Maduro Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who has alleged ties to Hamas and Hezbollah, as evidence that the Venezuelan government is embedded with America's worst enemies. Venezuelan Illegal Alien, Alleged Tren De Aragua Leader In California, Arrested On Immigration Charges El Aissami was arrested on corruption charges and is currently in prison. "He has a strong influence with Iran and China and Russia, too. Right now, he's in prison, which means that he's living in the palace in prison," Arocha remarked, smiling. "The Venezuelan regime is a proxy of Russia, China and Iran, especially China right now," he went on. "They use Venezuela [to] create chaos in Latin America especially … not confronting directly the United States, but indirectly, using criminals, using disinformation, using every single tool they have." In response, Arocha urged the Trump administration to continue to take a whole-of-government approach in combating TdA. He urged the administration to "increase our scope" by reaching out to Latin American countries with experience with TdA, such as the Chilean government. "They have a knowledge right now about the TdA. We have to understand what they've learned about, and we have to put all the pieces together to have the big picture instead of the local one," he said. "And then I'm very sure that we are going to realize the missing and the main link is in Caracas."Original article source: WATCH: US intel's take on TdA gang misses mark on ties to Maduro regime, ex-Venezuela army officer says
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Chicago's bloody Memorial Day weekend leaves 22 shot, 2 dead: report
Chicago was plagued by violence over Memorial Day weekend when 22 people were shot, including two fatally, ABC7 reported. One fatal shooting reportedly occurred when an argument erupted inside a vehicle on the city's Northwest Side in the Logan Square neighborhood on Saturday afternoon. The 35-year-old victim was attempting to exit the vehicle when he was shot and killed by someone else inside the vehicle. The shooter then fled the scene and remains at large. Chicago, My Hometown, Keeps Winning In One Shameful Way The second fatal shooting took place in the same area of the city, also on Saturday afternoon, according to the report. A 46-year-old man on the Northwest Side was shot in the head while inside his vehicle near Humboldt Park. The vehicle then crashed into another car and a pole. The victim was transported to the hospital and later pronounced dead. The suspect in that shooting also remains at large. Read On The Fox News App Two other people were also shot near a Humboldt Park homeless encampment, and one was critically injured. The shooter remains unidentified. On the city's South Side, two people were sitting inside their home when they were shot. The assailant in that incident also fled the scene and remains at large. Chicago Dubbed America's Murder Capital As Democrat Leaders 'Demonize' Police, Splurge On Migrants: Alderman According to the Chicago Tribune, which keeps a running tally of the number of homicides in the city each year, 139 people have been slain in the troubled city so far in 2025, based on data through May 17. The same outlet reported that 573 people were killed in Chicago in 2024. Last week, two Venezuelans living illegally in Chicago were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in connection with a deadly mass shooting. Ricardo Granadillo Padilla, 25, and Edward Martinez Cermeno, 24, suspected members of the violent Tren de Aragua (TdA) street gang, were taken into custody by federal law enforcement for allegedly killing three and wounding five others after opening fire during a December house party. More than a dozen suspected TdA members were also arrested as part of the investigation into the shooting. Fox News Digital reached out to the Chicago mayor's office and the Chicago Police article source: Chicago's bloody Memorial Day weekend leaves 22 shot, 2 dead: report
