A Houston officer reportedly lied asking for a warrant before the raid that left 2 dead, said chief

The Houston police chief said Friday that there would appear to be "lies or lies" in an affidavit used to obtain a warrant for a drug raid that killed four policemen and killed two people at the police station. House.

Police chief Art Acevedo said the police "have reason to investigate this place" on Harding Street, a raid that resulted in a shooting that killed both occupants, Dennis Tuttle, 59 , and Rhogena Nicholas, 58 years old.

"Up to here, it seems that there are lies or material lies in this affidavit – and that's a problem," said Acevedo. "It's totally unacceptable."

"More than likely, the investigator will be charged with a serious crime at some point," said the chief.

He added that there would be a review of previous inquiries and a more general review of departmental units of the Department of Narcotic Drugs.

Earlier Friday, KPRC, an affiliate member of the NBC in Houston, had obtained police documents that indicated that the narcotics officer, Gerald Goines, had justified the warrant application by saying that he had sent a confidential informant make him buy narcotics at home and that the informant had returned with what the informant said to be heroin. and said that there was a weapon at the residence.

But in the police documents, an investigator said they were not able to find this informant and that all the informants cited as working with Goines had denied the purchase of drugs for him at home or those of Tuttle or Nicholas. Acevedo acknowledged these documents Friday, but did not appoint the officer.

The police department said that when the police were serving the arrest warrant at home, around 5 pm. on January 28, they were shot and several officers fired back, killing Tuttle and Nicholas.

Police said that a small amount of marijuana and white powder, believed to be cocaine or fentanyl, as well as three shotguns and two rifles were found after the raid on the house. Goines was one of four officers injured during the shooting, according to police documents.

"We will discover the truth," said Acevedo. He added that the police department was conducting "an impartial investigation into everything that had happened before and during this raid".

Acevedo did not name what he called "the target officer" in the shootings investigation, but past cases will also be the subject of a investigation.

Acevedo stated that an officer had already been relieved of his duties and that the person he designated as an investigator was still hospitalized and would be so. A message with the police union indicating whether Goines had a legal representative was not immediately dismissed on Friday night.

Acevedo said that a 911 call had been made earlier in January by a woman who claimed that her daughter was doing heroin at home that was the object of a descent . "It's not just an investigator who has decided to attack a house, for the moment, as we have determined so far, for no reason," he said.

If it was established that information had been falsified for the warrant, it would be a crime, said Acevedo. But the details of exactly what happened are still under investigation, he said. He added that search warrants had been obtained for mobile phones.

"No matter what we get here, it's true, we know that we already have a criminal offense – and a serious criminal offense committed by the person who prepared this affidavit on the initial search warrant at the time of writing. location of Harding Street, "said Acevedo.

The Houston police union said in a statement to the KPRC that the details detailed by Acevedo Friday were "extremely worrying".

"Such actions, if true, would be extremely disturbing and would not reflect the many men and women of HPD who do incredible work every day, including those who have worked tirelessly since the shooting, making sure that nothing is left to chance "the union said.

Acevedo promised a thorough and impartial investigation.

"I'm telling you, there are a lot of angry policemen right now," said the police chief, "there are a lot of angry policemen, because when you break that oath, you hurt 98, 99% of those cops who go there every day. "

Phil Helsel is a journalist for NBC News.

Tom Winter

Tom Winter is a producer and reporter for the New York based NBC News investigation unit. It covers crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast.