One man was shot and another stabbed in a fight at a reggae party at the Royal Artillery Association in St. George's in the early hours of yesterday.

More than one gunshot was fired in the altercation involving six or seven people, Superintendent Antoine Daniels told a press conference yesterday afternoon. An 18-year-old man was shot in the upper body, and a 19-year-old man was stabbed during the incident at the club on Grenadier Lane shortly after 3 a.m. Both were said to be in a serious but not life-threatening condition at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital yesterday.

Two men have been arrested; it is believed neither was masked and detectives are urging witnesses to come forward with information. It marked the second gun attack of the holiday weekend, following the fatal shooting of Kimwandae Walker as he flew kites with his children on Good Friday afternoon.

Yesterday, St. George's residents reacted angrily, pointing out that while the East End may not have suffered the gang violence afflicting much of the Island, it has had troubles of its own; a 31-year-old man received serious head injuries after being set upon outside RAA last month. They suggested solutions ranging from putting all the gangs on an island and letting them shoot each other, to shipping them all off to a prison much tougher than Westgate.

"Bermuda's way too small for all of this," one man told The Royal Gazette. "Truthfully, give them all guns, put them on an island and let them take care of themselves, everybody shoots each other."

An elderly woman said: "It makes me feel terrible. I can't understand what they are getting out of it. They are not getting a gold cup for it.

"I just don't know what's up with these guys hurting each other. But the problem is they are hurting their parents as well. I don't come out at night any more. I don't feel safe. Before they just used to snatch handbags. Now, with all this killing going on, it's ridiculous, most ridiculous."

One elderly man said: "When you catch them, don't put them in prison here in Bermuda. It's too easy here. I know someone who's been locked up 21 times. It can't be that bad or he wouldn't keep going back.

"Send them to prison somewhere else. A friend of mine told me you don't want to get locked up in Jamaica."

A mother-of-three said: "It's scary because there's nothing for the children to do, so you want to take them to places. But after what happened with that man who was flying his kite with his kids, you feel like you've got to be overprotective. You don't know if there's going to be a shooting."

One man said he saw a Police officer in St. George's carrying a machine gun at about 6 a.m. yesterday morning. He said: "It's really bad that Bermuda is entering an American way of living. I lived in Dallas for a long time. Every evening you would have gunshots. Bermuda's too small for that."

Area MP Dame Jennifer Smith said yesterday: "I am as concerned as any right-thinking person would be. It is unfortunate because both St. George's Cricket Club and St. David's Cricket Club had a very successful Good Friday events. Constituencies One and Two had a wonderful Easter Egg Hunt yesterday and the Sunrise and other services had great crowds.

"I remain confident in the Police work being done and in the basic integrity of Bermudians. I am praying that those with information will come forward and do the right thing for the benefit of the entire community."

St. George's MP Kim Swan, the United Bermuda Party Leader, said: "We have got to stop the shooting. This gang culture and gun culture is being harboured in our homes.

"We have got to ask ourselves, is this the lifestyle that we want to control us. It's a small majority that are giving this Country a bad reputation and making it unsafe for the majority of us. "We have to provide the assistance that's required. We have to search ourselves and know if there is things happening in our immediate circles and we need to start speaking up.

"This type of Wild Wild West style of criminal activity is not what I want for my Bermuda and I know it's not what people want for our Bermuda."