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…