Children as young as 11 act as helpers to drug pushers on the streets, says former gang member Jahma Gibbons.

Mr. Gibbons says growing numbers of youngsters take part in illegal activity — to get cash to buy sneakers or gold chains — and are on the path to becoming hardened gangsters of tomorrow.

And he predicts Bermuda's gun violence will get even worse this summer as the hot weather stirs up more anger and frustration among pushers now forced to work harder to make big profits.

The father-of-two, 33, said he has kept an ear to the street since giving up his gang lifestyle about six years ago to become a Christian.

And he is concerned by the increasing numbers of young teenagers attaching themselves to gangs — some to earn easy money and others attracted by the associated notoriety fuelled in part by the media.

Predicting a continuing escalation of violence, Mr. Gibbons said: "A lot of it has to do with the older guys giving these young guys drugs, putting them on the street corner: kids aged 11, 12, 13,14. The older guys have them holding packages for them, to sell or to just hold it for the guy.

"The young guys make enough money from it. They want sneakers, gold chains. It has a lot to do with what they watch on TV. Young children, that's what they want. They see the glitter and gold but, me, I have seen the rust.

"I have sold drugs, I have used drugs, I have seen what drugs can do to our community. This is what made me make decisions in my life.

"I can't see how we are going to stop these guys from shooting each other, but what I can see is worrying is that our youths who are coming up with these guys, we are breeding even worse youths. All we can do now as a people is try to stop, to make a change in the way we have been dealing with youths of today.

"We have to catch them when they are young, before they start, when they are nine or ten, instill certain morals in their lifestyle. Make sure fathers play a role in their upbringing."

He said while he made $10,000 a day selling heroin it's not so easy to make money these days due to increased competition, which is adding to tension between sellers.

"Now everybody's doing it, there's less money on the streets. That makes guys more hotheaded," he said.

"This summer, with the heat alone, there's going to be a lot more shootings. These guys will be on the street all day, in the hot sun, sweating. The heat alone, when you are trying to make money, that alone triggers more anger. You are not making the money you should be making."

Of the shooting of 17-year-old Michéla Outerbridge and 39-year-old Antoine Tuzo at Western Sports Club on Easter Sunday, he said: "Why would somebody do that? Obviously, somebody's angry. Obviously, something has happened to either them or somebody in their gang. That has led them to this anger for them to just shoot into a club.

"They want to let off their anger and show people that they are serious, that they will do whatever it takes."

Regarding the media, he said: "When you start calling Parkside notorious, they want to be seen in that way. It's more or less feeding into their lifestyle.

"When you start calling these guys gangs, they thought they weren't a gang before, now they do. You put that stigma to them and now they are living up to it.

"Ever since Parkside starting getting into the paper, and they are seen as notorious, more and more young people have joined the crew.

"This all started off with just guys in the neighbourhood who used to come outside and hang out together. It was never a gang.

"Now they see it as like a mafia. More and more young people today will look up to that lifestyle. They see it everywhere they go, on TV. They see the glitter. They don't see the deterioration that it actually does to your spirit and to the community."