Two men were arrested on suspicion of murder moments after they were cleared of a mob attack.

Detroy Smith Jr. and Allan Douglas Jr. were yesterday taken into custody for the murder of Jamaican George Lynch on Wednesday night. Last night they were released on Police bail.

Moments before their arrest, a Supreme Court jury had found them not guilty of viciously attacking Temasgan Furbert on February 27 last year. [see court story].

Mr. Furbert was attacked at the very same Midland Heights Crescent home where Mr. Lynch was murdered two nights ago.

He died a few months before he was due to became a father for the third time.

The 40-year-old Jamaican was married to Bermudian schoolteacher Nekesha Holdipp. He was described as a "much loved member" of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's Environmental Services Department.

And neighbours reacted in shock when they heard that Mr. Lynch had become Bermuda's eighth gun fatality in the last 12 months.

Mr. Lynch died after two masked men rode up to the Hamilton home of his friend Philmore Phinn and fired one shot shortly before 10.27 p.m. The bullet hit Mr. Lynch in the chest while he stood in the yard with two other individuals. He was rushed to hospital in a private car but died within an hour.

Mr. Phinn is the brother-in-law of attack victim Mr. Furbert; he and his wife testified during the Supreme Court trial.

Police were quick to say yesterday that Mr. Lynch was not involved in Bermuda's gang underworld or one of the 700 individuals they classify as prolific priority offenders <\!m> persons responsible for a majority of the crime on the Island.

But Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva also said it was a "giant leap" to say that Mr. Phinn was the target of the shooting in retaliation for taking the witness stand in his brother-in-law's trial. He said that he did not want to "rush to connect [the trial outcome and the murder as] we do not know that is the case".

Asked whether this week's shooting could be linked to other ongoing shooting investigations, he said: "There is a connectivity that runs throughout all these cases."

Wednesday's tense Supreme Court session saw three men convicted of the vicious attack on Mr. Furbert. After the guilty verdicts were read, one man was hauled out of the courtroom by Police after he swore at the judge and members of the public threatened photographers and cameramen covering the trial.

Asked why a Police car was not put front of the Phinns' house in the wake of that scenario, Mr. DeSilva said: "Anyone can predict anything after it has happened. Every case we deal with that involves violence is looked at very closely from a security standpoint. We could not have predicted what happened last night.

"It could not have been foreseen that the risk was as high as it turned out to be. We are dealing with multiple victims, multiple families, multiple witnesses in multiple investigations. It's not realistic to put a Police car outside every one of them.

"The person you are referring to [Mr. Phinn] gave evidence two weeks ago they were more at risk two weeks later than they were when they gave evidence?"

Superintendent Nicholas Pedro said "something is being done" to protect the Phinns now.

Yesterday those who worked with Mr. Lynch were reeling from shock.

His manager at KEMH, Rosa Simons, described him as an ideal employee.

"He had been with us for just under a year, but in that seemingly short time had become a much loved member of our team," she said. "He was an excellent team player and consistently went above and beyond the call of duty. We received letters about George from patients and managers, always praising his professionalism, polite manner and kindness. He will be greatly missed by us all and our prayers are with his family at this very sad time."

The Phinns neighbours were equally surprised that violence had once again descended on their quiet road.

"This is not normal for our neighbourhood," one senior citizen said. "I knew George, he was friendly. He would always say 'hi' when he passed on his way to the Phinns. He was a good guy; kept out of people's way."

Another neighbour saw Mr. Lynch just two hours before he was shot dead.

"I stopped and had a quick chat with him," he said. "I met him a while back because he is always down at Philmore's. He was a nice guy. I can't believe this happened. He was here and now he is gone."

Another elderly couple said all was quiet when they came home at 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

"It is terrible, especially [considering] what happened 15 months ago," the woman said. "They just finished renovations. I heard the shot at 10.20 p.m., that sure woke me up. I timed it. It took the Police 20 minutes to get here."

Already witnesses have come forward to tell Police that the men who murdered Mr. Lynch were riding a Honda Wave motorcycle and were wearing dark clothing.

The rider was wearing a black Nolan crash helmet with a black visor covering his face while the pillion passenger was wearing a round black crash helmet, also with a black visor covering his face.