The island’s strategy against violence needs to pivot as attacks involving firearms escalate into increasing multiple shootings, activist Gina Spence-Virgil has said.

The campaigner, whose charity assists families contending with violence and loss of life, spoke after roadside shootings on Court Street that took the lives of Nakai Robinson, 18, and Natrae Eversley, 23, on August 12.

Ms Spence-Virgil said: “What we see now isn’t just shootings. Bermuda has moved into the multiple shootings environment.

“We have to acknowledge it. We do not want to alarm people but in order to fix it we have to call it for what it is and administer that level of strategy to these incidents because they’re not going away.”

She added: “With a double shooting, there’s a difference when that happens. Every life lost is critical, but when you have lost two young lives in such a tragic way, there’s a difference.“

Ms Spence-Virgil pointed to a spate of double murders since the fatal shooting of Haile Outerbridge and Ricco Furbert inside the Belvin’s Variety store on Happy Valley Road in Pembroke in January 2013.

That incident was followed by the killings of Micah Davis, who was celebrating his 22nd birthday, and Ayinde Eve, 27, who both lost their lives to gunmen in an attack at the Robin Hood Pub and restaurant in October 2021.

Ms Spence-Virgil highlighted three double murders during the past 13 months: the murders of 18-year-old Razi Garland and 19-year-old Amon Robinson at Scaur Hill, Sandys, in July 2024, followed by the attack this May at Legends Bar in Somerset that left Jasmin Smith, 32, and Shaquan Williams, 29, dead and three others injured — culminating in the attack last week on Court Street.

That incident, which police have linked to two suspects on a motorcycle, quickly involved the Gina Spence Programme charity.

She said: “I was actually on a family vacation when we got the call — of course, we’re never really on vacation. We had to rally our team to make sure that our clients were OK. Every time there’s another incident like this, it just triggers people.

“We had already put a plan in place before we left, just in case. We carry an emergency kit in our car, just in case something happens. We have to grab it and take our resources to the families. We were able to speak with our team and make sure we were stabilising our families.”

Ms Spence-Virgil said there were personal aspects of the double murder for her and Mykiee Jones, her daughter and the executive director of the charity.

She said: “Mykiee had a reaction because she knew one of the young men from our neighbourhood. She just broke down, so I had to administer support to my own daughter while we were on vacation.

“Sadly, I have experienced that same type of incident on Court Street during one of our own events. A shooting took place right on the corner there. It was broad daylight.

“I know what it’s like in that space when you smell the smoke from the gun and have to drop to your knees behind the car, because that’s exactly what happened on that day. It’s never the same whenever you have to walk into that space again.

“Businesses in the area are uneasy. Believe it or not, just a month ago they had the jerk festival on Court Street. The neighbourhood has been having these huge events in that very same space — could you imagine?

“Thankfully it was not during that time but that space will carry that fear, that concern.“

She said her work providing care after violence, grief and loss “never stops, whether it’s the victims, the survivors or the community at large”.

She told The Royal Gazette: “I just do not see the urgency. We’ve always said, what is it going to take for us to do something drastically different before there are triple murders — what’s it going to take?

“You can almost predict it. There’s a shooting, the minister does a press conference, the community responds. But we can’t just continue to do the same thing. There has to be a different approach because things aren’t getting better.”

Ms Spence-Virgil recalled the Black Lives Matter march through Hamilton in June 2020, which brought out an estimated 7,000 peaceful demonstrators in solidarity with the global movement.

That march came 13 days after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

She said: “When are we going to come together on a massive scale for ourselves, to let the community know that this is unacceptable and that we’re not going to do the same thing?

“We become very predictable in these moments. But things are not the same and in any given case when something changes drastically, you change your path.

“We have increased funding for the police. We have the National Violence Reduction Strategy. But how can we mirror that with a change in our actions?”

A spokesman reiterated the Bermuda Police Service’s thanks to the community for its response to the release of images gleaned from CCTV footage of the suspects in the shooting one week ago.

He said: “Since the release of the images, the BPS has received several calls from members of the public who have provided information that has assisted in furthering this investigation. We are grateful for this assistance.

“We urge the public to continue to work with us by sharing any information they may have in relation to this matter, no matter how insignificant they might think it to be.”

• On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on a story that we deem may inflame sensitivities. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers