According to social media users monitoring 911 calls, a gang of 32 armed Venezuelan migrants on motorcyles were reported by multiple people on Monday night of having gathered threateningly in the courtyard of an apartment complex in Chicago.
According to the phone archive, the Venezuelans had massed in the courtyard of the apartment complex on 6124 South King Drive and were displaying guns and otherwise terrorizing the inhabitants. The original tweet was forwarded by Elon Musk, who commented simply, “!!”.
Mystery surrounds the incident, with claims and counter-claims circulating through X and Tik Tok. A local “block club” website emphatically denied anything like a “takeover” had occurred, but did report that one of its members while attempting to investigate was “told to leave” by the crowd.
A Chicago alderwoman and one resident also denied the claims. The alderwoman said the “alleged trespassers may have been building residents” and that she herself had received no reports of a takeover. She accused social media activists of creating a “ploy for us to be fighting each other while they continue to make legislation and policy that harms us all.” She added:
There have been issues [at the building and in the neighborhood], but there ain’t been these things you’ve seen on social media. … We were having problems before the Venezuelans came.
(That last part is no doubt true.)
The resident who denied the reports said he had talked with other residents, who assured him that there was “‘no way’ they’d allow migrants ‘to take over the area.'” He added that if such an incident had occurred, “you would’ve saw that on the news.”
The alleged incident follows recent reports of a similar takeover of a group of buildings in Aurora, Colorado, by Venezuelan gangsters. That too has been denied by local authorities.
So, what is real and what fanciful? It’s getting more and more difficult to decide, but don’t assume “the news” is going to tell you when such things happen.