HOUSTON – Bullet holes riddle the front of a home in a southeast Houston neighborhood police shut down after a shootout left five officers injured and two suspects dead.
The Gloverdale neighborhood reopened around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to police, but cars slowly driving by to stop and take pictures made it a busy morning.
Officers were in the area collecting evidence into Tuesday morning and still had both ends of Harding Street blocked off while they finished.
The area in front of the home where the shooting happened was also taped off and the medical examiner was seen at the home early Tuesday morning, according to KPRC2 reporter Sofia Ojeda.
Area residents are still trying to wrap their minds around the events that unfolded Monday evening as officers attempted to execute a warrant for narcotics activity; specifically, the distribution of black tar heroin.
Neighbors told us they were truly surprised to hear that Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, the couple who lived in the home, were involved in the shootout that injured five officers.
"I don't believe all this. Dennis, he wouldn't hurt a fly that guy ...," said one neighbor, Robert Antu.
Neighbors said they had absolutely no idea what was going on in the home. They even went on to say, Rhogena, aka "Reggie," and Dennis as they called them, were good neighbors.
Many neighbors said the area is generally quiet and described the shooting as chaotic and terrifying.
"I just heard a lot of gunfire, I looked outside and it was a chaotic scene,” said one neighbor who did not want to be identified. "This was a disabled husband and wife they were not drug dealers, they were not drug dealers."
However, Houston police paint a much darker picture of the two.
Acevedo said once police officers made their way into the home Nicholas reached around a fallen officer and tried to grab his shotgun. Tuttle opened fire on officers too.
A woman heading home started recording when she noticed several officers were injured.
"I had seen an officer come out of the house shot in the arm," said Rode Tellez. "Then I had seen another officer come out, shot in the leg and they put them out in the floor."
Tellez said a couple officers even sat in her car while the ambulance and LifeFlight arrived.
People were allowed to return home around 7 p.m. police said, after the scene was secured.
Police had asked citizens to avoid the Gloverdale neighborhood around the shooting scene for emergency vehicles. Police told KPRC2 that parts of the neighborhood near the scene had been evacuated. Harris County deputies also responded to the scene to assist Houston police officers.
Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement on the shooting: "This evening's horrific attack on police officers is a solemn reminder of the service and sacrifice our brave men and women in law enforcement make every day to keep us safe. The city of Houston and the Houston Police Department will have whatever state resources they need to bring swift justice to those involved. I ask all Texans to join Cecilia and me in praying for the officers injured, and for the continued safety of all law enforcement officers who protect our communities."