Independent MP Shawn Crockwell criticised the One Bermuda Alliance for not sending any Cabinet representatives to the funeral of his cousin Fiqre Crockwell who was fatally shot last month.

Speaking in the House of Assembly on Friday evening, Mr Crockwell recalled how close to 1,000 members of the community turned out to celebrate the life of the Bermuda cricketer.

He said: “The point is here was this young man and you have all these mourners representing the entire island but there was no one representing the Cabinet there. I was disappointed to see that the Minister for National Security [Jeff Baron] was not there.

“We need to show we care not just by sending a letter but by showing up and touching the black community.”

Michael Dunkley, the Premier, addressed Mr Crockwell’s statements towards the end of the parliamentary session to say: “I explained the reasons why I wasn’t there.

“I reach out to this community probably unparalleled with anyone else in this honourable chamber and so when people question where I was and what I was doing I take it to heart. When families struggle we need to be there and show them that we care and show them the support that they need.

“I am not going to stand in this house and justify it. I don’t appreciate the criticism.

“Nobody is happy about what took place and I am glad that the community came out and provided support to the family.”

Mr Crockwell said the Government needed a clear strategy to tackle gun crime speaking of a “growing crisis of gun violence and loss of life of young men” in Bermuda.

He said: “If we don’t have a strategy then this issue will have a real negative impact.”

The Premier added: “Where do we go from here? We have many of the solutions in place — the police are going to do their work, the Government has put in teams within the community to ease these tensions to work within the community and work with private organisations.

“We need to have the community stand up and say enough is enough.

“People know what goes on in this community but all of a sudden the courage we have to speak out disappears when something happens. Fear takes over and fear cannot be allowed to stop our progress in dealing with these types of challenges.”