The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office arrested four people with alleged connections to the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua (TDA), in late August.

Deputies were conducting “proactive policing” near the Ivy Crossing Apartments near South Quebec Street and High Line Smith Way on Aug. 21 when six people were arrested at the apartment complex on various charges from theft to drugs, Deputy John Bartmann, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told The Denver Gazette.

During the arrests, deputies noted that four of the suspects may have ties to the Venezuelan gang that has been connected to various crimes at the Edge at Lowry, and Aspen Grove, apartment complexes in Aurora — about six miles away.

The department declined to identify the suspects or specify how they are connected to the gang due to ongoing investigations, Bartmann said.

The department contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security to help with the various arrests during the proactive policing.

Officers seized 750 counterfeit pills, ketamine and a stolen car during the arrests.

The investigation into the apartments was not in response to reports that there was gang activity in the area, Bartmann said, but just a normal part of the department’s proactive policing procedures.

During proactive policing, the sheriff’s office will send officers to an area of statistically high crime based on crime analysis, Bartmann added. The officers are “unplugged,” or don’t have to respond to other calls while working in the area, allowing them to continue “in-depth” police work.

“We saturate the area with patrol deputies, our SRT Team, and investigators,” Bartmann said. “We try to make as many contacts as possible and have a zero-tolerance policy for any crimes we find. We find that when we do this, the crime rate in the area drops. We try to do this in an area once a month.”

The gang-correlated arrests were happenstance, according to the sheriff’s office.

Victim of Aurora apartment shooting identified

The victim of a shooting at the Edge at Lowry Apartments — where the majority of reported crime allegedly connecting to the Tren de Aragua gang is located — died weeks after the incident.

Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo, 25, was shot at 12th Avenue and Dallas Street, just outside of the complex, around 11:30 p.m. Aug. 18, according to the Aurora Police Department. He later died in the hospital from his injuries.

Police did not say when he died, but confirmed he was identified on Aug. 27.

No arrests have been made in connection to the shooting and police have not said whether the incident is connected to gang activity.

Just last week, video of men with long guns busting down doors at apartment complex surfaced.

On Tuesday, tenants at The Edge disputed claims that gangs controlled the property in a rally outside the complex, according to The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9NEWS. They blamed the landlord for neglecting the property.