This may be yet another triumph of stupidity to add to the pile. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a car thief stole a pickup truck and, later, an SUV from a home in Laurens County, Georgia, and when the thief was pulled over, and methamphetamine found on him, the thief said he'd stolen the meth from the pickup truck (which he had stolen).
Yeah, sure. That could happen. Anyhoo, 6 or so hours later, at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, the police are back at the residence of the fellow who's truck was stolen, with a search warrant, in the usual commando-style gear. Our 59 year-old homeowner, who had reported the thefts to the police, thinking his house is about to be broken into, arms himself with a shotgun, or at least that appears to be the case. The police shoot him dead, then proceed to search the house for 44 hours, finding no drugs.
Naturally, law enforcement is not releasing any further information.
But let me give you my take, as one of the few Kossacks who has actually witnessed the planning and execution of a police drug raid. Most of the time the police know exactly where to look for drugs. They have a pretty good idea from the CI (confidential informant) or whoever it was that was in the location, where the drugs are. And most people just aren't that clever about hiding their stash. it is highly unusual for any search to take 44 hours. My suspicion is that the police were anxious to find anything that would exonerate them from having killed the homeowner.
I can also tell you that it takes awhile to put together an affidavit to get a search warrant. If it's true as reported that the thief was arrested at 3:45 pm, and they were at the house by 10 or 11 pm, then the police must have spent much of the intervening time drafting up the affidavit and the warrant itself, finding the judge, assembling the search time etc. There doesn't seem to have been a lot of time to have investigated other theories, i.e. maybe the thief was lying?
BTW, anyone who is curious about this unholy alliance between the police and the criminals when it comes to the war on drugs should watch the excellent film How to Make Money Selling Drugs