The mother of a student blasted to death outside a West End nightclub last night urged anyone protecting his killer to come forward - saying they were just as bad as the killer if they failed.

It will be six months on Monday since 20-year-old Shaundae Jones was shot in cold blood outside Club Malabar in Dockyard. The gunman still roams free.

Police yesterday took the unusual step of promising a $5,000 reward for anyone with information about the whereabouts of key suspect Kenith Clifton Bulford, who was originally interviewed in connection with the shooting and then released on Police bail.

Shaundae's mother, Marsha Jones, yesterday issued an emotional appeal to anyone with information, saying she believed those protecting the killer were just as guilty as the gunman himself.

"Shaundae was shot and killed, and he was my only child," said Ms Jones.

"I don't know the person who killed him, or the people who are protecting the killer, but they are disrupting my life.

"Shaundae was the victim, but I am also the victim because I am the one left behind feeling the pain, hurt, loneliness and emptiness. I can't get any closure. Shaundae did not deserve this.

"If people go on protecting the killer, then they may as well have shot Shaundae themselves. They are just as bad."

Bermuda College student Shaundae, who lived with his mother on Smith's Avenue, Warwick, was shot at point black range in the early hours of Sunday, April 27 outside the nightclub, where he had been with friends.

It is believed he was standing beside a friend's car, which was parked directly opposite the club, at about 3 a.m. when the masked gunman approached him and shot him once in the chest. The killer then coolly ran away behind the Clock Tower building.

Detectives said they believed Mr. Jones stumbled backwards into the car in the confusion as the majority of the 100 or so people milling around outside the club believed the loud bang had been a bike backfiring.

He died before reaching King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Ms Jones said she sometimes believed the killer had fled the Island, and that at other times thought that he was still here.

But she said either way, she felt that somebody in Bermuda knew where he was and was protecting him.

"It's very frustrating," she added.

"I know he will be caught eventually, but I don't know when, how or where. He can't run free for ever and he is going to have to come out at some point.

"If he was man enough to shoot Shaundae then he should be man enough to turn himself in."

Ms Jones said the loss of her son was just as painful today as it was six months ago, and said it would continue to be so until the killer had faced the courts and was in prison.

She said she believed the Police were doing all they could with the current laws in place, and appreciated the $5,000 reward, but said she wished things had been handled differently.

The nurse's aid said when Bulford had been released on Police bail, she wished he had been given harsher conditions to abide by, so that he could not have escaped Police so easily.

And she said she also wished an overseas homicide detective, who specialised in assassinations, had been drafted in to help the Police in Bermuda.

"It doesn't get any easier, but I'm learning to cope with it a little better," said Ms Jones.

"I still cry and I still have my moments, but I am trying to function from day to day. I just wait for the phone to ring.

"I can't have Shaundae back, but can't I at least have some kind of resolution to my loss? That is all I ask for."

The poster, which is to be put up around the Island, depicts a photograph of a smiling Bulford, who is also known as Ethan.

A Police spokesman said: "Police have offered the reward as an incentive to get information that will lead to the arrest of Kenith Bulford as soon as possible."

Bulford is described as being about six feet four inches tall, brown-skinned, of medium build and weighing about 180 to 200 pounds.

The poster states that he is wanted in connection with offences under the Firearms Act, and promises that any information given will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Anyone with information about Bulford should call Police on 295-0011 or CrimeStoppers, which is open 24 hours a day, on the confidential hotline 1-800-623-8477.