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Cricket club to act after gunfire incident

A machete attack took place at the Southampton Rangers Club

Somerset Cricket Club is to enact a new rental policy after a person was shot during a private party over the holiday weekend.The new policy will be in place before the club is next hired out, said SCC president Alfred Maybury.He said he was “disappointed” and “not impressed” to hear that partygoers ended up literally running for their lives when gunfire broke out at the club in the early hours of Good Friday.One man’s head was reportedly grazed by a bullet in the 2.45am incident. He was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital via ambulance around 3.30am, and discharged shortly after.Sources have told this newspaper that a second man was also grazed by a bullet as it passed by his elbow.Yesterday Mr Maybury wouldn’t state who the club had been rented to on Thursday night but he told The Royal Gazette: “Recognising that there’s very few places that these young people can go to have a party, I’m very disappointed that anything like this could happen, and even more disappointed to hear that someone decided to act up like this.“SCC is one of the few places that still allows private groups to rent the club for private parties, to see it end with this foolishness is disappointing to say the least.”The club’s executive will implement new measures before the next private event next month, he added.Mr Maybury was quick to note that this latest incident was not just a problem for SCC and area residents.“This is a problem for the entire community. The adults in Bermuda need to wake up and not continue to turn a blind eye to what’s happening right in front of us. We are going to take steps to work more with the community to eradicate this problem.”Area residents expressed their concerns to The Royal Gazette about the lack of police presence at the club the night the party was held.Asked to comment, Mr Maybury said: “With all the events we’ve had in Somerset, SCC and BPS have a good working relationship.“The police know they can come through our doors anytime, and we know they cannot be everywhere all at once.“We will put some things in place for future events booked by private groups, and if they want to rent our club they will have to follow our rules.“I can’t really take aim at the Bermuda police, we have to let the police investigation run its course. But moving forward we are looking at making some policy changes regarding private parties at SCC before the next party which has been booked for a date in May.”When asked if there were concerns about security with the annual Cup Match Classic to be held in Somerset later this year, Mr Maybury said: “I’m not too worried about Cup Match. We have the necessary protocol in place already as far as the club grounds are concerned; so I’m not worried.“Beyond that the community overall needs to pay attention.”