The four teens arrested this week by the Aurora Police Department on organized crime charges are thought by police to be a subset of the Bloods street gang that moved into Denver around 1986.

Lennon Melgares, 18, of Edgewater, Xavier “Head Huncho” Chavez, 18, of Aurora, Jayden Velarde, 18, of Morrison, and a 17-year-old Lakewood teenager — who was not named due to being a minor — were arrested on Sept. 5 and 6 on organized crime charges, according to arrest records.

The four face a litany of charges including Colorado Organized Crime Control Act charges, attempted first-degree murder, felony menacing, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and others in connection to various crimes throughout the area.

Two other teens were listed in the arrest warrant but have not been arrested as of Saturday.

Investigators with the Aurora police Crime Gun Intelligence Unit began reviewing unsolved shooting cases in April. Through the investigation and “self-developed ballistic evidence,” the department was able to connect multiple unsolved shootings in Aurora to others in Wheat Ridge and Lakewood, according to arrest records.

These connected incidents include an attempted first-degree murder in Wheat Ridge on Feb. 29, an assault in Lakewood on March 19 and an attempted first-degree murder in Aurora on April 29.

An undercover agent with the Aurora Police Department’s Narcotics Unit communicated with the teens throughout the end of 2023 and summer of 2024 to buy or trade for various guns, including handguns, AR-15 rifles and shotguns, allegedly sending the detective various photos and videos of them with the guns.

The teens also allegedly told the detective that they were not afraid to shoot if the deals went awry, according to the arrest affidavit.

The members also posted various videos and photos on social media platforms, including a video of a person shooting an AR-15 rifle out the window of a moving vehicle.

Another series of Facebook messages also allegedly showed one of the members attempting to sell a large quantity of blue pills and Psilocybin mushrooms. The pills appeared to be similar to fentanyl, according to arrest records.

An investigator with the Aurora Police Department believes “that members of this criminal enterprise are likely an active sub-set of the Bloods criminal street gang,” according to arrest records due to red bandanas placed in the back right pocket in acquired photos and a witness claiming the group is a gang called BGK — a subset of the Bloods gang.

Through witnesses, cellphone records and Chavez’s vehicle, detectives were able to connect the group with a shooting near Wheat Ridge High School on Feb. 29 where Chavez allegedly fired rounds at a student that had a previous altercation with him. The victim was not injured during the incident.

The group was also connected to an assault at an AutoZone in Lakewood on March 19 where the group allegedly attacked a group of teens in the store, breaking various items in the shop.

The group allegedly left the store and got into Chavez’s vehicle, firing a shotgun round into the air as they left.

One of the victims in the assault allegedly received messages that someone was going to “shoot up” her house, but police never found any suspicious vehicles in the area.

In the third incident on April 29, members allegedly fired shots into an occupied home in Aurora after one of the members got in an altercation with the homeowner over rent money.

No one was injured in the drive-by shooting.

The local departments worked together to build cases against the four suspects, concluding that that their alleged actions met the state’s definition of an organized criminal enterprise.