Jan. 26 (UPI) — A Texas grand jury on Monday indicted nine Houston police officers, including one for murder, for crimes uncovered during an investigation into a botched drug raid that left two people and their dog dead and several officers injured in 2019.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office announced the grand jury charged Officer Felipe Gallegos with murder for the death of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicolas, 58, and their dog who were shot dead during a shootout with officers of the Houston Police Department’s Narcotics Division on Jan. 28, 2019.
The other officers on Monday were charged with first- and second-degree felonies for engaging in organized criminal activity for attempting to steal overtime pay from the city, the district attorney’s office said, lifting the total number of people charged as part of the investigation into the raid to 12.
“The consequences of corruption are that two innocent people and their dog were shot to death in their home by police; four officers were shot, one paralyzed, and now all of them will face jurors who will determine their fate,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said.
Officer Gerald Goines was previously indicted for two charges of murder for the raid. The district attorney’s office said Goines has been accused of lying to a judge concerning the drug activity of and the threat posed by the married couple in order to obtain the so-called no knock warrant.
Four officers were shot in the subsequent shootout.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has previously said it anticipates to overturn more than 150 drug cases, 91 of which involved search warrants in which Goines was the affiant on the search warrant.
The resulting investigation uncovered the scheme to steal money from the government that include charts of tampering with a government record, according the the district attorney’s office.
