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Harding Street raid
On January 28, 2019, in the Pecan Park area in the East End district of Houston, Houston Police Department (HPD) officers initiated a no-knock raid on a house, killing the two homeowners, a husband and wife: Dennis Wayne Tuttle and Rhogena Ann Nicholas. They were aged 59 and 58, respectively. Five HPD officers sustained injuries.
St. John Barned-Smith and Keri Blakinger of the Houston Chronicle described the event as "one of the worst [scandals] to hit HPD in years".
Dennis Wayne Tuttle (March 26, 1959 – January 28, 2019) was raised in the Denver Harbor neighborhood of Houston and had once served in the U.S. Navy. Tuttle's brother Cliff stated that Tuttle liked the water and chose the Navy for that reason. However, he sustained injuries from an accident during his service which caused him to develop seizures, and he was honorably discharged as a result. He fathered two children with his wife, and suffered from a car crash and additional accidents. He was not working at the time of his death due to his health issues. Tuttle's sister, Elizabeth, stated that the man "had debilitating injuries for many years and it's a sad situation." He married Nicholas circa 1999, after having a ceremony at a courthouse. The two had ended their previous relationships prior to becoming romantically involved. Tuttle owned the house on Harding Street.
Rhogena Ann Nicholas (March 1, 1960 – January 28, 2019) was born in Ackerman, Mississippi to a dentist and a housewife. She was of partial Lebanese descent through her father. From approximately 1962 onward, she grew up in Macon, Mississippi, attending Central Academy in Macon and Bauder College in Atlanta, before moving to her parents' new residence in Florida. She moved to Houston in the 1980s with her then-boyfriend. At the time of her death, she was taking care of Tuttle and also made some income helping care for her ex-partner who lived nearby. At the time, some members of her family also lived in the Houston area.
Gerald Goines, the officer responsible for writing the search warrant, began working for HPD circa 1985. He had worked in narcotics for many years and had been shot twice before. The first incident occurred in 1992 after a controlled drug buy. The second occurred on a freeway where Goines and another motorist allegedly were competing for space. The other driver reportedly drew a gun and shot Goines in the arm but was killed when Goines returned fire.
The raid was precipitated by calls from Patricia Ann Garcia, a next door neighbor of the couple who had had multiple bitter disagreements with them. She made a "swatting" call to police on January 8, 2019, reporting that her 25 year-old daughter was doing heroin at the couple's house. She also reported seeing that they had machine guns in the home. In reality, there were no machine guns or heroin found and Garcia did not even have a daughter.
Based on this false information, Goines, an officer with the Houston Police Department, obtained a no-knock search warrant for the residence. To bolster the case, he lied, saying a confidential informant had obtained black tar heroin in a hand-to-hand buy at their house. However, the named informant denied having made such a buy as did all other informants Goines had worked with.
Three weeks after Garcia's initial calls, police officers raided the Tuttle/Nicholas home on January 28, 2019. After the officers entered the home, they shot a dog owned by the couple. According to the HPD report, Tuttle was armed with a revolver and engaged the officers before being killed by return fire. Nicholas was unarmed but was shot by a backup officer when she allegedly reached for a wounded officer's shotgun. There is no video footage of the raid. Four of the police suffered gunshot wounds, though there was some doubt early on that they were all from Tuttle's revolver.
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Harding Street raid
On January 28, 2019, in the Pecan Park area in the East End district of Houston, Houston Police Department (HPD) officers initiated a no-knock raid on a house, killing the two homeowners, a husband and wife: Dennis Wayne Tuttle and Rhogena Ann Nicholas. They were aged 59 and 58, respectively. Five HPD officers sustained injuries.
St. John Barned-Smith and Keri Blakinger of the Houston Chronicle described the event as "one of the worst [scandals] to hit HPD in years".
Dennis Wayne Tuttle (March 26, 1959 – January 28, 2019) was raised in the Denver Harbor neighborhood of Houston and had once served in the U.S. Navy. Tuttle's brother Cliff stated that Tuttle liked the water and chose the Navy for that reason. However, he sustained injuries from an accident during his service which caused him to develop seizures, and he was honorably discharged as a result. He fathered two children with his wife, and suffered from a car crash and additional accidents. He was not working at the time of his death due to his health issues. Tuttle's sister, Elizabeth, stated that the man "had debilitating injuries for many years and it's a sad situation." He married Nicholas circa 1999, after having a ceremony at a courthouse. The two had ended their previous relationships prior to becoming romantically involved. Tuttle owned the house on Harding Street.
Rhogena Ann Nicholas (March 1, 1960 – January 28, 2019) was born in Ackerman, Mississippi to a dentist and a housewife. She was of partial Lebanese descent through her father. From approximately 1962 onward, she grew up in Macon, Mississippi, attending Central Academy in Macon and Bauder College in Atlanta, before moving to her parents' new residence in Florida. She moved to Houston in the 1980s with her then-boyfriend. At the time of her death, she was taking care of Tuttle and also made some income helping care for her ex-partner who lived nearby. At the time, some members of her family also lived in the Houston area.
Gerald Goines, the officer responsible for writing the search warrant, began working for HPD circa 1985. He had worked in narcotics for many years and had been shot twice before. The first incident occurred in 1992 after a controlled drug buy. The second occurred on a freeway where Goines and another motorist allegedly were competing for space. The other driver reportedly drew a gun and shot Goines in the arm but was killed when Goines returned fire.
The raid was precipitated by calls from Patricia Ann Garcia, a next door neighbor of the couple who had had multiple bitter disagreements with them. She made a "swatting" call to police on January 8, 2019, reporting that her 25 year-old daughter was doing heroin at the couple's house. She also reported seeing that they had machine guns in the home. In reality, there were no machine guns or heroin found and Garcia did not even have a daughter.
Based on this false information, Goines, an officer with the Houston Police Department, obtained a no-knock search warrant for the residence. To bolster the case, he lied, saying a confidential informant had obtained black tar heroin in a hand-to-hand buy at their house. However, the named informant denied having made such a buy as did all other informants Goines had worked with.
Three weeks after Garcia's initial calls, police officers raided the Tuttle/Nicholas home on January 28, 2019. After the officers entered the home, they shot a dog owned by the couple. According to the HPD report, Tuttle was armed with a revolver and engaged the officers before being killed by return fire. Nicholas was unarmed but was shot by a backup officer when she allegedly reached for a wounded officer's shotgun. There is no video footage of the raid. Four of the police suffered gunshot wounds, though there was some doubt early on that they were all from Tuttle's revolver.