AURORA, Colo. — Aurora police have arrested one person and identified two others that were seen in a viral video recorded inside an apartment complex on Dallas Street last month, the department announced in a Friday morning news conference.
Six men were seen on video captured by a neighboring doorbell camera. One man was armed with a long rifle and the others appeared to be carrying handguns as they knocked on the door and entered an apartment at The Edge at Lowry complex.
The surveillance video was recorded on Aug. 18, the same day 25-year-old Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo was killed in a shooting at the complex.
Police arrested 21-year-old Naudi Lopez-Fernandez on felony burglary and menacing charges. Two others – Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, 25, and Jose Serpa-Acosta, 20 – were wanted for burglary and menacing, and police were asking for the public's help in identifying three others.
The burglary and menacing charges were related to the incident captured on surveillance video, police said.
As of Friday's news conference, none of the six men had been linked to a gang, police said. However, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain did not rule it out.
“I think there's always a possibility," he said.
Aurora Police laid out a timeline of events from the shooting on Friday.
Officers were called around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 to an apartment complex at East 12th Avenue and Dallas Street.
The surveillance video was recorded roughly 10 minutes before that shooting. About 12 hours after the shooting, investigators obtained a search warrant for a neighboring apartment and found a rifle hidden inside an oven. That rifle is believed to be the one seen in the now-infamous surveillance video.
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Multiple investigations into what happened on Aug. 18 and the viral video are ongoing, according to Aurora Police. Investigators continue to try and identify everyone else in the video.
When asked about the video bringing more attention to the investigations, Chamberlain said transparency is a primary goal of his as chief.
"I can't talk a lot about the past, but I will talk about from today on, and you will be seeing me quite a bit,” he said.
The Aurora Police Department Major Crime homicide Unit is leading the investigation into the deadly shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867). Anyone can remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward up to $2,000, the Aurora Police Department said.
Chamberlain said one of the barriers in the investigation is getting people to come forward as many witnesses are immigrants and fear deportation. He said that won't happen in this case.
"Crime does not discriminate, and we will not discriminate on how we enforce or what we do," Chamberlain said. "It will be based not on their immigration status, not on if they're documented or undocumented, or what their sex or ethnicity or their race is, but it's based upon the fact, have they or will they commit crimes.”
