Houston police embroiled in scandal after 'lies' found in no-knock warrant that led to fatal raid on alleged drug house originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Less than 48 hours after President Donald Trump called him up on a stage to express pride in the Houston Police Department, Chief Art Acevedo struggled to explain a scandal in which one of his narcotics agents allegedly lied to get a no-knock warrant for a drug-house raid that left a married couple dead and four officers shot.

"What a job you've done. I'm proud of you," Trump told Acevedo while giving the keynote address on Wednesday at the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs of America joint conference in Washington, D.C.

"I like these people," Trump said of the Houston Police Department delegation on hand. "I feel very safe with these people."

PHOTO: Houston police officers hold the photos of two suspects in the shooting of five police officers during a press conference at a hospital in Houston, Jan. 19, 2019. The suspects were identified as Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58. (KTRK) More

During a news conference in Houston on Friday, Acevedo noted the dramatic contrast between Trump's praise for his department and an investigation into the troubling actions of one veteran narcotics officer.

"Here we are less than 48 hours later talking about one person," said Acevedo, who asked the public not to paint the 5,200 members of his department "in a broad brush" over the actions of a single officer.

That officer, identified in court papers as Gerald Goines, 54, was one of the four drug-team members shot in January when they raided a house where Goines claimed a confidential informant had made two purchases of black tar heroin.

But an affidavit filed in Harris County District Court on Thursday by Houston internal affairs detectives investigating the raid indicates the confidential informant Goines said conducted the drug buys on his instruction claims he never even went to the house.

PHOTO: Houston police Chief Art Acevedo speaks about the shooting of five police officers during a press conference at a hospital in Houston, Jan. 19, 2019. (KTRK) More

"Regardless of whether we had reason or probable cause to engage in an investigation or even get a search warrant, what that affidavit will show you is that, thus far, it appears that there are some material untruths or lies in that affidavit, and that's a problem," Acevedo said.

Killed in the Jan. 28 raid were homeowners Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his 58-year-old wife, Rhogena Nicholas.

Armed with a search warrant, nine narcotics detectives backed up by at least six patrol officers surrounded the home on Harding Street just before 5 p.m.

After Goines, the lead investigator on the case, broke open the front door, a 33-year-old officer armed with a shotgun entered the residence and was immediately attacked by a pit bull, Acevedo said a day after the raid.

He said that the officer being attacked shot and killed the dog.

PHOTO: Police investigate the scene where several Houston Police officers were shot in Houston on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP) More

One of the suspects, Tuttle, charged from the back of the house firing a .357-caliber Magnum revolver at the officer, hitting him in the shoulder, Acevedo said.

He said Nicholas was shot and killed when she tried to grab the wounded officer's shotgun and that Tuttle was killed by police after shooting three other officers, including Goines, who suffered a bullet wound to the neck and remains in a hospital.

Police recovered two shotguns and three rifles from the residence and seized marijuana and a white powder they believe to be either cocaine or the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, Acevedo said at the time. But officers did not seize any black tar heroin, he said.

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