Harris County Pct. 2 nets guns, drugs, cash in Third Ward home raid with Louisiana murder suspect

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A raid in the greater Third Ward neighborhood netted illegal guns, drugs, $145,000 cash, and a fugitive wanted for murder in Louisiana, according to Harris County Precinct 2 Constable Jerry Garcia.

Law enforcement raided the house in the 2100 block of Live Oak early Thursday morning.

“We got a tip a couple of months ago. The investigation started in the Pasadena area and ended up in the 2100 block of Live Oak this morning,” Constable Garcia explained. “There was drug activity there.”

Dozens of deputies from Harris County Precinct 2 and the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force converged on the 3-story home.

Garcia said that windows were broken, and gas was tossed in to smoke out the suspects.

The four people inside were arrested without incident. Among them was Naun Armando Contreras, a 24-year-old murder suspect out of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The bust yielded three rifles and eight pistols. Pct. 2 shared photos with. One gun was modified to be fully automatic and had a 50-round drum.

Suzette Anahi Correa, Cesar Eloy Gonzalez, Jr., and Salvador Ivan Mtanous were also arrested. They face various drug and gun charges. All are believed to be part of a high-level drug operation.

One photo showed a whiteboard with the “trap house” rules, slang for a drug house.

“The investigation is still ongoing. These weren’t small guys. We don’t know how big they were, but they were definitely big. There was a lot of stuff being moved in and out of there,” Garcia said.

spoke with neighbors who said they had suspected it to be a drug house based on the amount of activity. They declined interviews fearing retaliation but say they are happy the raid happened.

In addition to the weapons, officers confiscated Xanax and hydrocodone pills, marijuana, and $145,000 in cash.

What was most striking to Garcia is the disadvantage in guns and ammunition, he said, that the deputies could have faced.

“We have small bullets, and these guys have big bullets,” he said. “We’re going against this every day, and they’re putting their lives on the line, and sometimes, unfortunately, they do feel underappreciated. Hopefully, people will realize what we’re going up against and appreciate it a little bit more.”