CRISIS BY DESIGN: Colorado apartment complex occupied by Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua will be closed.

An apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, occupied by members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is being closed by court order, city officials said Monday.

The complex drew national attention in August 2024 following a viral video of armed gang members entering a unit.

Aurora city officials were pursing a lawsuit to declare all but one building at the complex a criminal nuisance.

Last week, they asked a judge to close the property in the meantime because the situation had reached a “breaking point” following the kidnapping and assault in December of two residents, according to CNN.

The court granted the request Friday, ahead of a court hearing Monday on the matter.

Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said in a court filing that the complex had become a frequent place for crime and there has been a “criminal element that has exerted control and fear” for residents.

However, he later made clear gang members had not taken over the complex and that the main problem was the lack of management and oversight by the property’s owners.

That must be an awfully fine line between a “criminal element that has exerted control and fear” and “gang members had not taken over the complex.”