Premier Alex Scott is to hold an emergency meeting with the Public Safety Minister Randy Horton and Governor Sir John Vereker this morning in the wake of the murder of a teenager at the weekend.

Mr. Scott told that he knew the family of the 18-year-old man shot in Ord Road, Paget, in the early hours of yesterday morning and would be calling them personally to give his condolences.

?To lose a life at that young age is doubly tragic,? he said. ?We wish to, as a Government, express our sympathy to the family of the young man.

?One murder is one too many. We are going to use all of the resources of Bermuda to contain and imprison those who break the law and threaten the peace.?

Mr. Scott said steps had already been taken to increase security on the Island following the drive-by shooting of a man near the Swizzle South Shore in Warwick last month. And he said he would discuss those measures again today with Mr. Horton and Sir John.

?We have already started about a month ago to set into progress security initiatives which we have every intention of using to ensure that Bermudians and our visitors and our country are as secure as they possibly can be,? he said.

?I will meet with the Minister and the Governor about the steps that we will be taking as we move to contain incidents such as this one and the ride-by shooting.?

The Premier said he did not know whether the weekend slaying was gang-related.

But he said the Government was concerned enough about about gang activity to have brought in a consultant ? Sgt. De Lacy Davis, of the East Orange, New Jersey Police Department - to lead an anti-gang team of officers.

?We as a Government are going to put a lot of resources into positive, constructive options and alternatives to street violence for young men who want to follow the straight and narrow and that?s young women too. In some instances, young girls are involved. This is a tragedy that I would have thought all young people would want to avoid.

?That?s the loss of life and certainly the taking of life, no matter who it is.?

He said he was aware that gangs on the Island periodically agreed to stop fighting and play in a football tournament together. ?The significance of that is they have a truce,? he said. ?That type of discipline used by our young people is going to be required more.

?Otherwise, they are going to have to look at the consequences of not being more disciplined about their behaviour. It causes loss of life and it threatens our communities and threatens their own families.

?They have demonstrated they can be disciplined.

?This is praiseworthy, noteworthy.

?The other, violent activity is not and that, they must cease and desist.?

He said killings were still extremely rare on the Island and visitors and locals should be reassured that they were safe.

?I?m very committed to continuing the reputation that Bermuda has,? he said.

?I?m putting the resources of the country behind this.?

He added that Government was considering making it a requirement for hotels to hire their own security staff as an added safety measure.

Dale Butler, Minister for Community Affairs, said he was disturbed by the murder.

?It?s a very sad, sad day for the child and his family and the country as a whole.?

He said he feared gang activity was on the increase, adding that the seeds for this were sown back in the 1970s, when a report discovered 35 ?hang out? groups of youngsters on the Island.

?I think now we are beginning to see how those early seeds, things we took for granted, that look innocent, might be the foundations for bigger things.?