For one man hanging around outside Hamilton Parish Workman's Club, the gang lifestyle has turned out to be anything but what it's cracked up to be.

The day before The Royal Gazette visited Hamilton Parish West, the man in question was fearing for his life as he stopped at a red traffic light while driving through so-called enemy territory in Court Street.

"They chase you because you are not on their team," he told this newspaper.

The man says he's welcome in one part of the city yet not in another area a few yards away, such is the rivalry between Bermuda's gangs.

Equally members of one of the city's gangs are allowed into Hamilton Parish and those from another aren't — only venturing there when they intend to kill someone, according to the man.

It's a lifestyle he says he hates, but he argues he has little choice after being rejected by Bermuda's society and unable to go to the States because of the stop list. "You can't get a job, you are stuck, there's no better way," he said. "Nobody wants to hire me or trust in me.

"They think this even though I'm a changed man. What else are you going to do?

"I'm willing to go to school, all of that. I don't see nobody trying to help me."

The man is echoing the words of Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva, who says many young people are trapped in Bermuda's gangs against their wishes after realising they joined under false pretences.

Hamilton Parish West is described by its residents as a traditionally quiet and family-orientated neighbourhood — but it suffered its first gun death on January 3, when Perry Puckerin Jr. of Pembroke was shot dead in front of customers at the Workmen's Club.

Some blame the system for leaving many young men unemployed or unemployable.

"I need a job. I will take whatever. I can learn. I'm not dumb. I can do labour, anything hands on. But nobody's training here," said one man outside the club.

He pointed to other social problems, continuing: "You have got parents, mothers suffering, fighting like hell to pay their bills, because jobs are few and it's hard.

"They take guys' drugs money. They are talking about low income housing, and even that's about $1,500. I'm struggling. I've got five children in a two-bedroom property. It's crammed conditions. There's a lot of homeless people."

Another man said the stop list had effectively turned Bermuda into a prison for some.

"They get many Bermudians here trapped for one spliff," he said. "That's frustrating. What else is left for us if you can't get out of Bermuda?

"My family's out there, my brother's family. You limit me to Bermuda, it's like I'm still in jail."

One shopkeeper described the feeling after this month's violence: "They are good guys round here but it's kind of put a scary dampener on things, the shooting.

"There's a lot of people who can't get jobs around here because you see them sitting around here every day.

"I'm sure it's not because they don't want to, because they come here and ask me if there's anything they can do.

"Since the economy got worse, there's been more people than ever doing nothing, sitting on the walls."

Pointing to housing problems, she continued: "The rent has not gone down to accommodate the people who don't have much. My girlfriend came to me and said she has nowhere to stay.

"She is a single person, she had her grandchildren with her. Her rent was put up from $1,000 to $1,800. How can she afford that? Her apartment ceiling is falling in and tiles are falling off the walls in any case.

"She's moving out to stay with her daughter until she can get herself together.

"That's what people are doing now, just trying to make it work. Those who have homes, most of them do take people in to pay bills."