The new president of Southampton Rangers Sports Club has expressed his frustration after severe violence returned to the venue a year after the murder of Rickai Swan.

However, Jason Wade stressed the club’s positive impacts on the community, and requested the local population’s support to prevent further outbreaks of criminal activity.

Gunshots were fired and a man was stabbed in the face on Sunday night during a mêlée in a public parking lot, following a brawl in the club bar minutes before. According to a police spokesman, a 32-year-old Warwick man and a 28-year-old Pembroke man both suffered serious injuries in the altercation, which took place at around 11pm. About 100 people were gathered in the club bar, after Rangers’ FA Cup game against Butterfield & Vallis, when the trouble began.

“Two guys started fighting and it escalated, so the bartender phoned the police and I ran outside and called security,” said Mr Wade, who became the club’s president last month.

The two security guards stopped the fight, in which a man had been knocked unconscious, and ordered everyone in the room to leave.

The displaced revellers then headed to the nearby parking lot as Mr Wade went back inside the venue and locked the doors. “All hell broke loose out there. People were screaming and I’m guessing they were fighting too,” he said. A source told The Royal Gazette that the chaos ramped up another notch after someone unloaded several rounds of gunfire.

“You heard the ‘pop-pop’. Everybody scattered and they all came running back to the club bar,” said the source, who did not wish to be named.

A male club member was among those who returned to the bar, where Mr Wade saw him trying to stem the flow of blood from his mouth with a shirt. “I figured he’d been punched in the face, but everyone said he got stabbed,” Mr Wade said.

“You know the people who are involved in the gang life, and he’s not about that. He’s a friend of everybody; that’s why I’m irritated, because he’s not involved in any of that foolishness.”

Mr Wade said that, given the security team’s earlier checks, the weapons must have been retrieved away from the sports club, perhaps in a nearby car.

“Everybody that entered the premises was searched and warned,” he said.

And he underlined the club’s efforts to curb antisocial behaviour and provide a beneficial hub to the area, via events such as neighbourhood get-togethers and a seniors’ bingo night.

“The club is doing everything we can to try to prevent incidents like this from happening, and to deal with Bermuda’s social ills,” he said.

However, he conceded that the murder of Rickai Swan last year had “cast a shadow” on the organisation.

On October 23, 2015, the 26-year-old was shot to death in a pre-planned attack outside the venue. Shantoine Prinston Burrows was convicted of the killing in Supreme Court this month and is awaiting his sentence.

“We’re trying to move past those negative events and bring more positives to the club, and we’re asking for the community’s support in helping us deal with these wider problems,” he said.

“Sunday’s incident is very frustrating, but the club will bounce back from this without a doubt.”

Dr Radell Tankard, a longtime Somerset Cricket Club member who works for the Ministry of Education, said it was “very unfortunate” that sports clubs can be alluring to troublemakers.

“They attract that negative element, and it’s difficult to legislate for that,” said the former football player.

“Some of the people who patronise the club may not even be members, and don’t appreciate the work that’s done just to keep the club afloat.”

Dr Tankard suggested that increased collaboration between clubs could help quell criminal incidents.

“Moving forward is going to be a tall order. The clubs have a humungous task in trying to resolve this,” he added. Martha Dismont, executive director of community charity Family Centre, called Sunday’s episode “a shame”.

“But this isn’t about Southampton Rangers, it’s about individuals who are still disenfranchised and struggling,” she said. “It’s a matter of pulling these individuals back into the mainstream, so they feel that they have opportunities to go in a different direction.

“There’s a lot of work that’s going on, and there are a lot of success stories.”

Yesterday, a police spokesman said that further details remained unclear regarding the violence that hospitalised two men on Sunday night.

“Initial reports suggested that shots were fired. However, currently there is no forensic evidence to substantiate those reports,” he said.

“As police personnel secured the scene, a 29-year-old Southampton man was arrested for affray and remains in police custody at this time.

“At last check, two men stabbed during the disturbance were both in critical condition at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.”