AURORA, Colo. — After thieves hit a family-run liquor store twice Sunday morning, the Ethiopian community says the crime should be a wake-up call. The mayor of Aurora agrees. But the two blame different people.
For Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, who toured the damage Monday morning, the dramatic break-ins are a symptom of a larger social problem.
"We've got to be tougher on crime, we've got to be tougher on criminals," said Coffman, blaming lower penalties for an increase in crime. "The state legislature and our governor have to wake up. We can only do so much at the municipal level."
Around 2 a.m. Sunday, the first set of thieves used a Hummer as a battering ram to enter G&E Liquor Store, located at 18680 E. Iliff Avenue, stealing everything from the ATM money to the Bitcoin machine to a cash box with a handgun inside.
Store owner Girum Alemayehu was watching the surveillance video live on his Ring camera, and called 911. He said officers were at the store when he arrived, but left without telling him while he was copying the surveillance video. Three hours later, he and his wife were still waiting outside the store for detectives when a second set of thieves showed up.
"I honked my horn to let them know we were there, thinking it would scare them away," said Alemayehu. "But he put his hands in his hoodie and made it look like there was a gun in the pocket, and he charged at us. You didn't see any kind of fear."
Alemayehu said his store was broken into six or seven years ago, but Aurora police's response was very different then.
"That time we have officers who stayed here, and the detective came soon. They told us what to do. At this incident, they didn't tell us what to do," he said.
While Coffman blamed statewide policies for an increase in crime, he also acknowledged issues such as shortages at the beleaguered Aurora Police Department.
"The fact is, I mean, it is a problem," said Coffman.
The mayor explained the Direct Action Response Team launched this summer, along with a new policy increasing jail time for motor vehicle theft charges, are meant to target habitual offenders.
"And yeah, we have areas that are out of control here. And so, we've got to take back the city. And we're in the search for another police chief. I want somebody who's tough on crime," Coffman said.
Advocates in the Ethiopian community, though, said they need help now, calling Alemayehu and his wife pillars of a community now shaken by violence.
"This is, like, declaring terrorism on a community," said Nebiyu Asfaw with the Ethiopan American Development Council. "People are terrified, especially a lot of our small business owners [worried], "I might be next.""
Alemayehu plans to reopen his store as soon as he can replace the framing at the entrance, and he only hopes the thieves can be caught before then.
"We're glad we survived and nobody [was] hurt," he said. "Aurora should wake up and serve small business the way they used to and protect us the way they used to."
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