Members of a Harris County grand jury on Wednesday visited the south Houston home at the center of a 2019 narcotics raid that left two residents dead and the Houston Police Department mired in scandal after the officer behind the operation was accused of lying to obtain a warrant.

The black shuttle bus arrived at 10:11 a.m. at 7815 Harding St., stopping at a long white covered walkway that had been set up to protect the identity of the grand jurors probing the incident. The visit marks the first public indication that local grand jurors have begun investigating the case. In August, Harris County prosecutors charged former narcotics officer Gerald Goines with murder, and charged his partner, Steven Bryant, with tampering with a government record.

Goines, a veteran narcotics officer, launched the no-knock raid on the home on Jan. 28, 2019 with other members of Narcotics Squad 15 looking for heroin. Homeowners Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle died in the operation. Five officers were injured.

Police didn’t find any heroin, only small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, and relatives and neighbors disputed that the two individuals had dealt drugs. In the weeks that followed, Police Chief Art Acevedo said Goines had lied about the drug buy used to justify the raid on 7815 Harding St.

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The police department, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI all launched investigations into the raid.

Authorities on Wednesday divulged little about the grand jurors’ tour of the Pecan Park home, which lasted less than half an hour.

In a written statement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said that a local grand jury had been looking into the Harding Street incident for “several weeks,” but declined to discuss any specifics because grand jury proceedings are secret.

“Prosecutors will present all the evidence to grand jurors to determine if indictments are warranted,” she said. “We will get to the truth about the deaths of Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle and we will continue to review thousands of cases handled by members of Houston Police Narcotics Squad 15.”

In a short written statement, Acevedo said, “We appreciate the work of the grand jury and the Houston Police Department Special Investigations Unit, and our partners, who helped us get to this point.”

Police union officials declined comment.

As far back as July, a separate, federal grand jury began probing the case. More than a dozen Houston police officers appeared before the federal grand jury, according to union officials. In November the grand jury handed down nine indictments against Goines, his former partner, Bryant, and Harding Street resident who they said had lied to police in 911 calls. In a lengthy detention hearing, prosecutors later unveiled sweeping allegations of misconduct against Goines, accusing him of lying repeatedly about casework, having sex with his informant and told a federal judge investigators he had loose drugs and a stolen gun in his car.

In state court, Harris County prosecutors charged Goines with two counts of felony murder in August, and charged Bryant with one count of tampering with a government document. Both men — who have since retired from HPD — maintain their innocence. But that investigation has moved more slowly than the federal case, as prosecutors have also begun an extensive review of thousands of cases that Goines, Bryant, and other members of their squad worked on over their careers.

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Courthouse veterans said the grand jurors’ crime scene visit was rare.

“The fact they went to see a house that is the subject of a case, it’s unusual, yes,” said Ken Magidson, a former Harris County DA who was tapped as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas by Barack Obama and served until 2017. “Generally grand jurors just base their decision on evidence presented inside the grand jury room, from witnesses, from documents, from testimony, from presentations. So it’s unusual.”

An attorney for Rhogena Nicholas’ family called the grand jurors’ tour of the home “welcome news.”

“The Nicholas family knows the investigation must continue to fully expose the actions of all the persons involved in the Harding Street fiasco, including its aftermath,” said Mike Doyle, the attorney. “That the grand jury is given an opportunity to see Rhogena and Dennis’ home is welcome news, but we also know that an independent forensic evaluation of the Harding Street incident is vitally necessary.”

Goines’ private defense attorney said she was pleased to hear of the grand jury’s visit.

“It’s definitely unusual,” she said. “But we are grateful this grand jury seems to be taking the time and effort to do a detailed investigations into these facts.”

About 20 minutes after the shuttle bus arrived, its occupants reboarded and it departed. Plywood covers windows and doors broken in the raid. They are dotted with spraypaint and ringed in American flags. A year after the raid, the house still draws visitors, neighbors said. With each new development in the case, they see a new surge of curious onlookers.

“It’s like some kind of attraction,” said Emilio Alaniz, who lives two doors down from Tuttle’s house. “I would like to see the traffic stop. It’s like a zoo out here.”