A 35-year-old Connecticut woman has been arrested and charged with conspiring with two armed robbers who were shot and killed in March while attempting to rob an underground poker room in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Shanica Merced, of Bridgeport, was charged with felony conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and illegal gambling in connection with the robbery.
The March 30 incident left Tayvon Geter, 33, and Richard Davis, 30, both also of Bridgeport, dead. As they brandished their guns to start the robbery, one of the players pulled out his own gun and began shooting at Geter and Davis. A brief gunfire exchange ensued that left both robbers dead and the gun-toting player wounded. Both robbers made it outside the club before collapsing and dying later at a local hospital.
Merced was also wounded in the leg in the melee. Over four months elapsed before she was charged in connection to the incident, during which investigators reviewed security footage from the scene and found that she had allowed the two men into the club, while they were wearing masks.
Others charged in connection with club
Merced helped operate the Bridgeport poker den along with 37-year-old Marcus Farmer. Farmer was arrested in June and charged with operating an illegal gambling business. He was also charged with criminal possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence after allegedly pocketing the gun one of the robbers used. Farmer had already absconded from parole in connection with another case and was wanted on a warrant at the time of his June arrest.
One of the players at the club, 38-year-old Sean Ellam, was arrested in May. He allegedly pocketed the gun of the other mortally wounded robber and also faces charges of criminal possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence.
Merced claims innocence in interview
In a recent interview with the U.S. Sun, the New York-based offshoot of the prominent British tabloid, Merced denied any involvement in the robbery. She admitted being a friend of one of the two men and talking with them but denied the rest of the police's version of the attempted robbery.
"I didn't tell the boys to come here [to the club]. They just showed up," she told the U.S. Sun. "The boys walked in with masks on, but everyone wears masks now." Merced declared that they also took their masks off, and that the robbers were talking to everyone else at the underground club.
From that point, Merced added, her friend "lost his mind" and began the robbery, which included a moment when he stared at her and shot her in the leg, the bullet either grazing her or entering and exiting a fleshy area. Merced also described the location in Bridgport's East End as more of an informal social club than a gambling den. "It was a social club where people came to hang out," she told the outlet. "People came, they played games, watched TV, sports. People slept there when they didn’t have nowhere to sleep. It was a safe haven...."
