Houston’s police chief said the department will end “no-knock” warrants following a deadly drug raid in which two suspects were killed and several officers were injured.
The Jan. 28 raid on a home also resulted in four police officers being shot and injured. Last week, it was revealed that an affidavit to justify the warrant appears to contain “some material untruths or lies” and police Chief Art Acevedo said an officer will likely be criminally charged in the case.
“The no-knock warrants are going to go away like leaded gasoline in this city,” Acevedo said at a community meeting on Monday, according to the Associated Press. He said officers will need to request a special exemption from his office to conduct a no-knock raid.
Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, were killed after police serving a warrant were fired upon, police have said.
Monday’s town hall meeting turned contentious and at times involved shouting, NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston reported.
“The family was murdered,” Eileen De Los Santos, a longtime friend of those killed in the raid, said during the meeting, according to the station. “I would like for someone to use the word ‘murdered,’ because they were murdered.”
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has said that it is investigating every aspect of the incident. District Attorney Kim Ogg said at Monday’s meeting, “What charge is going to be presented will be based on the evidence and the evidence is still being collected,” according to KPRC.
Last week the local station obtained police documents that say the warrant was justified by a claim that a confidential informant purchased heroin at the home that was raided and that a weapon was observed there. But investigators have been unable to find that informant.
Narcotics Officer Gerald Goines provided the names of two confidential informants, but one said they did not work with Goines on that case, and the other said they purchased heroin from a different home at Goines’ direction five miles away, according to the documents.
Investigators interviewed everyone on a list of informants that had worked for Officer Goines and all denied making a buy for the officer from the Harding Street home or ever buying drugs from Tuttle or Nicholas, according to the documents. After the raid, police said they found several firearms at the home, along with marijuana and cocaine, but no heroin.
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