The victim of the latest shooting in Bermuda lost his brother to a gun murder, it emerged yesterday.

Jakai Harford, 27, was shot at 4 a.m. on Saturday and today remains in a stable condition in intensive care at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The Royal Gazette understands he was shot in the upper body by the gunman who waited in bushes by the family home on Mission Lane Pembroke.

It was the second time Mr. Harford had been shot. On Christmas day 2007 he was shot in the shoulder while in the Camp Hill area of Southampton.

And last December his brother 30-year-old Kumi was shot and killed just yards from where Jakai was shot. Kumi Harford was gunned down at 5 a.m. while behind the wheel of his car outside of the same St. Monica's Road home.

According to Police, Harford spent Friday evening at a nightclub in St. George's before getting into a taxi at approximately 3 a.m. which took him to his Pembroke home where he was shot at approximately 4 a.m.

On Saturday morning Police were still combing the scene, directly behind St. Monica's church, for evidence. The area was kept off-limits to the public for much of the day while Police completed their inquiries.

A crowd of onlookers and concerned residents, gathered outside of St. Monica's church, talked and counselled one another after what one man called "another disgusting act of pointless violence".

"It makes me sick to my stomach, this has to stop," said a Pembroke woman, who asked not to be named.

"I don't know what to think anymore," said a Pembroke man in his fifties. "I have lived in this area for most of my life and have never seen it like this. It is happening so often now that it doesn't even affect me like it used to, I am becoming numb to it all."

Area MP Michael Weeks described some initiatives being taken to reduce crime in his Pembroke East-Central constituency. He said despite taking steps to install lighting on some of the dark, meandering, back roads in the area, some residents have not completed their responsibilities.

"To install lighting on these back roads we need permission from residents because it is not Government land," said Mr. Weeks. "I have sent out letters to the affected residents for permission to install lighting. Unfortunately I cannot move forward with the idea because I have had very little response.

"It is important that residents and the Government work together to get things like this done."

Additionally, Mr. Weeks said he has been in talks with area churches about creating neighbourhood watch teams and with the Minister of Public Safety regarding installing CCTV security cameras.

Saturday's was the second shooting incident in just over a week. On Friday March 19, James (Junior) Lawes and two other men, Maurice Martin and Robin Stovell, were shot outside of Place's Place on Dundonald Street.

Mr. Lawes died of his injuries in the early hours of Sunday March 21. Mr. Lawes was the seventh person shot and killed in Bermuda since May of last year.

The weekend's shooting brought to 39 the number of confirmed gun related incidents this year and last night Shadow Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley suggested a new approach to fighting gun crime.

"This situation is not going to get better until we do something about it," said Mr. Dunkley. "I want to echo the message by Police and Crimestoppers for the public to come forward with any information that they might have. But it is clear to me that we need to take a different approach. The liberal approach of dialogue and increased Police presence doesn't work and the conservative approach of relying on the criminal justice system is not cutting it either."

Mr. Dunkley said a crime fighting scheme called "Operation Ceasefire" which has been implemented in Boston and other American cities has been very successful and could be applied successfully in Bermuda.

"The characteristics of this situation are no different than other jurisdictions around the world and in the United States. We need to take a zero-tolerance approach to gun crime but we also need to actually go into these communities and offer these guys a way out. Operation Ceasefire has had phenomenal results doing just that in the cities where it has been implemented. I hope the powers at be are looking into something like this."

The gun and anti-gang violence programme incorporates social workers, Police, and other crime fighting entities who work together to identify and intervene on at-risk youth.

• Police are appealing for anyone who has any information regarding this shooting to contact the Serious Crime Unit at 299-8121 or the independent 24 hour confidential Crime Stoppers Bermuda hot line on 800-8477.