Aurora police detained 15 people early Tuesday and said they expected to take more into custody following a gang-related home invasion and violent kidnapping at the troubled and soon-to-close Edge of Lowry apartments. Investigators believe all the people involved — including the two victims, one of whom was stabbed — are Venezuelan immigrants and most are undocumented, Aurora police Chief Todd Chamberlain said during a news briefing Tuesday morning. He said the victims were targeted because they’re undocumented. The late-night home invasion was “100% gang activity,” Chamberlain said. “There is a high assumption” the suspects are affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has been known to operate at Edge of Lowry, but that hasn’t been confirmed, he said. “This complex is an incredibly problematic complex,” Chamberlain said. “It is an incredibly crime-riddled complex.” The 60-unit Edge of Lowry apartment complex, which gained international attention after a video clip of heavily armed men inside one of its five buildings went viral, is set to close in the coming months as part of a deal reached earlier this month between Aurora officials and the apartments’ owners. “We have and will continue to protect members of our community and aggressively pursue anyone who tries to victimize them no matter who they are or where they come from,” Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said in a statement Tuesday. “Aurora, like every other major city across the country, must tackle crime — especially concentrated pockets of crime — aggressively. But as I have said repeatedly, specific bad actors and problematic properties do not reflect on this city as a whole.” Officers responded to reports of an armed home invasion at the apartments in the 1200 block of Dallas Street just before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Aurora Police Department. A man and a woman living together in the building had been accosted by at least 15 armed individuals around 8:45 p.m. Monday, Chamberlain said. The two were taken against their will to a vacant unit in a different building of the Aurora apartment complex and were bound, pistol-whipped, threatened and tortured for hours overnight, Chamberlain said. The man was stabbed and both victims were later taken to an area hospital, where they remained Tuesday. Chamberlain said the two victims were eventually released by the suspects around 1:50 a.m., at which point they fled to a friend’s house across the city and called 911. Multiple Aurora officers responded to the apartments around 2:30 a.m. and detained 13 men and 2 women for questioning. All 15 suspects were found inside one apartment unit during an early morning search of the building, Chamberlain said. The apartment complex remained locked down Tuesday as officers worked to submit search warrants and identify the suspects. None of the suspects detained by investigators had been arrested as of Tuesday morning, and Chamberlain said more people from the apartment complex were being detained as officers executed search warrants in four locations connected to the Monday night incident. No one will be arrested until the department is sure that every individual involved with the home invasion and kidnapping is in custody, Chamberlain said. Chamberlain said Aurora investigators were working with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify the suspects and verify their involvement with the crime. “It’s not about their documentation status,” Chamberlain said. “…It’s about the fact that they are causing crime, they are victimizing people and they are going to be held accountable.” The expected closure of the Edge of Lowry apartments follows attempts by the buildings’ owners and property manager CBZ Management to blame poor living conditions on Tren de Aragua, which they alleged had taken over the property. Related Articles Crime and Public Safety | Aurora’s troubled Edge of Lowry apartments — site of viral video — set to close in owner’s settlement with city Crime and Public Safety | Inside Aurora apartments made infamous by gang takeover claims, residents wonder what’s next Crime and Public Safety | Owner of troubled Aurora apartments faces state investigation related to conditions, consumer-protection laws Crime and Public Safety | Long before claims of Aurora gang takeover, apartment owners came under fire from inspectors and residents Aurora police have acknowledged the gang’s presence at the Edge of Lowry and other apartment buildings, and the closure deal reached in court this month resolves the city’s efforts to have the complex labeled a criminal nuisance and shut down. Both sides are due back in court next month. During Tuesday’s news conference, Chamberlain blamed the apartment owners’ mismanagement of the complex, lack of oversight and already terrible living conditions for allowing gangs to take root and the neighborhood’s crime rate to worsen. “The incident… underscores, with painful clarity, why the city has been aggressively leading criminal and civil legal actions against the private property owners, managers and/or ‘investors’ of CBZ Management and their various LLCs,” city officials said in a Tuesday statement, echoing Chamberlain. “Their chosen absence and abject neglect of their own properties for years and their pattern of ignoring and rejecting the city’s various offers to expedite a resolution in recent months have, in part, created an environment that has allowed criminal activity to flourish time and again irrespective of who is committing the crimes.” CBZ Management shared a TV news report about the home invasion at Edge of Lowry on social media Tuesday, writing, “No matter how anyone tries to spin it, the truth is the truth and the truth will come out. These gangs have been allowed to take over our apartment buildings and terrorize innocent people.” Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.