Aurora teens arrested allegedly linked to Bloods | Crime and Justice

Police believe the four teenagers arrested by the Aurora Police Department this week on organized crime charges are a subgroup of the Bloods street gang that moved to 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 teenager from Lakewood – who was not named because he is a minor – were arrested on March 5. and Sept. 6 on organized crime charges, arrest records show.

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

Two other teenagers had arrest warrants but had not yet been arrested as of Saturday.

Investigators with the Aurora Police Department’s Crime Gun Intelligence Unit began reviewing unsolved shooting cases in April. Through the investigation and “home-grown ballistics evidence,” the department was able to link several unsolved shootings in Aurora to others in Wheat Ridge and Lakewood, according to arrest records.

Those related 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 detective with the Aurora Police Department’s Narcotics Unit communicated with the juveniles in late 2023 and summer 2024 to purchase or trade for various weapons, including handguns, AR-15 rifles and shotguns, and allegedly sent the detective various photos and videos of them them with the weapons.

The teens also told the detective that they weren’t afraid to shoot if deals went wrong, according to the affidavit.

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

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

An Aurora police investigator believes that “members of this criminal enterprise are likely an active subgroup of the Bloods criminal street gang,” according to arrest records, as red bandanas were placed in the back right pocket in the photos obtained and a witness claims the group is a gang called BGK – a subgroup of the Bloods gang.

Using witnesses, cellphone records and Chavez’s vehicle, investigators were able to link the group to a shooting near Wheat Ridge High School on February 29, in which Chavez allegedly fired shots at a student who had previously had an argument with him had. The victim was not injured in the incident.

The group was also linked to an attack at an AutoZone in Lakewood on March 19, in which the group allegedly attacked a group of teenagers inside the store and broke various items inside the store.

The group reportedly left the store, got into Chavez’s vehicle and fired a shotgun into the air as they exited.

One of the victims of the attack allegedly received a message that someone was “attacking” her home, but police never found any suspicious vehicles in the area.

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

No one was injured in the drive-by shooting.

The local departments worked came together to file cases against the four suspects and concluded that their alleged actions met the state’s definition of an organized criminal enterprise.