HOUSTON — It has been almost a year since Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas were killed in a shootout with Houston police during a botched drug raid inside their home on Harding Street.
Since then, former HPD officers Gerald Goines and Steven Bryant, as well as Patricia Garcia, who allegedly made a phony 911 call about the house, have all been charged in connection with the deadly raid.
However, they haven’t been formally indicted by a grand jury.
Authorities visited the home once again on Wednesday afternoon as part of the next step of the investigation.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg called the Harding Street case deep and complex and that a grand jury has been working on the first phase of the case for weeks.
“To us and to our community this is the most important case going on in the country,” Ogg said.
The home at the center of a Houston police botched drug raid on Harding Street on Jan. 28 was taped off Wednesday morning by authorities.
A large white tent covered the driveway and around 10:15 a.m. a large black bus pulled up and dropped off a group of people.
Their identities are unknown but members of the DA’s office were on the scene.
“Because of the volume, we’re taking the investigation in phases and that includes phases of presentation to this grand jury and likely other grand juries,” Ogg said.
Under Texas law, grand jury proceedings are secret, so Ogg can’t confirm nor deny what exactly took place at the Harding Street home.
The group was there for about 15 minutes before boarding the bus again.
Ogg said there’s no timeline as to when this phase of the case will wrap up but plans on multiple grand juries hearing different parts of this case.
“Everyone involved is under a prosecutorial microscope because our community needs to know why Harding Street happened,” Ogg exclaimed.
The DA’s office wants the community to expect action and fairness and goes on to say their trust demands this case take as long as it needs to get the necessary answers.