MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Police here say they are determined to dismantle a network of criminals, particularly those involved in the robbery of bars, during which poker boxes are mainly targeted.

This follows Saturday’s triple fatal shooting by cops on Caledonia Road in Mandeville, involving three suspects with connections to criminals in neighbouring parishes who police said targeted bars across Manchester.

“The group that was involved in the shoot-out, we have been tracking them for some time and, based on intelligence, we even recovered stolen items, including poker box parts at three premises two Fridays ago, tied to these three people,” a police source said.

Police named those fatally shot as Lester Morris, Travis Baker and Sutania Boothe, otherwise called Chun Chun. Two firearms were reportedly seized during Saturday’s alleged shoot-out.

Police said about 4:00 pm they were alerted to a robbery spree and subsequently intercepted a vehicle near Horseshoe Curve.

A highly placed police source said the occupants of the intercepted vehicle opened fire on cops, who returned gunfire. A shoot-out ensued resulting in a prolonged stand-off.

Boothe, Morris and Baker, according to the police, were taken from the intercepted vehicle and rushed to hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival.

The incident happened in proximity of last Saturday’s double murder in which nursing student Deenekia Pounall and Sadefa Henry were gunned down in a taxi by a gunman posing as a passenger.

Baker and Morris were well known to the police, having both been previously arrested and charged for several offences, including praedial larceny and robbery.

Police described Baker as a third-generation thief in February 2024, when he was arrested a week before his father, Neville, was detained. At that time, the younger Baker was among three men arrested and charged with praedial larceny offences following a high-speed chase in Newport, Manchester. A ram goat was recovered from the trunk of a Toyota Axio in which Baker was travelling.

The elder Baker was subsequently arrested when police caught him and two other men with more than 600 pounds of stolen carrots and Irish potatoes in Kingsland near Mandeville.

A year later, on March 2, 2025, Neville Baker was gunned down in his car at the entrance to the community of Hatfield in Manchester. He had also previously served prison time for firearm offences.

In relation to Morris, police described him as “a poker box specialist” in robbing and dismantling the popular gaming equipment.

In 2022, police in neighbouring St Elizabeth said upscale gaming boxes, including those with touch screen technology, were worth as much as $500,000 each and were in demand, while older versions can be sold for up to $300,000.

Police accused Boothe, the woman killed in the triple fatal shooting, of being integral in robbery sprees.

“She would be the lookout and the spy for the group. She would go into bars and scope out the place and then call in her cronies,” a senior police source alleged.

“These criminals are not just based in Manchester, it is a network of them spanning multiple parishes. We have reason to believe [that] this team may be connected to the multimillion-dollar robbery heist in Red Bank near Junction, St Elizabeth, last month, in which two of their cronies perished in a fiery crash while trying to elude the highway patrol team,” added the police source.

Police theorise that a Toyota Noah motor vehicle, which burst into flames killing its two occupants when it crashed on the Williamsfield highway in the wee hours, was used as the getaway vehicle by thieves who had targeted the St Elizabeth establishment on June 27.

Police said they will continue to pursue criminal suspects linked to a series of robberies.

“There are others of them out there and we will not relent until the criminal network is dismantled,” said a senior police source.