Progressive Labour Party senator Jason Hayward told yesterday how he watched murder victim Morlan Steede die at the foot of Deepdale.

Mr Hayward urged Bermuda’s young people to reflect on their life choices.

Mr Steede was chased by a gunman through the Pembroke neighbourhood and shot dead on the night of Friday, October 27.

Mr Hayward told senators that the shock of looking on in the aftermath of the attack caused him to think of the future for his ten-year-old sons.

He said: “Recently I had the unfortunate circumstances of watching a young black man as he was dying — he was shot in my neighbourhood and I watched as paramedics and members of the public tried to revive this individual dying on the sidewalk.

Mr Hayward added: “Antisocial behaviour in our community is a problem for all of us. It’s one thing to talk about it, but to witness a man die of senseless murder — it strikes you, because you have to ask yourself as a Member of Parliament, as a Senator, why are you there if you’re not trying to improve conditions for those brothers who are on our streets?”

He said: “We need to have proper social interventions in place but, more importantly, as a community we have to show our young brothers that we care, and that what they do matters to us.”