For one gang member's mother, desperate times call for desperate measures.

"If they'd allow me, I'd say give me the gun, let me shoot him. Let me put him out," said the woman about her 30-year-old son whose lifestyle has repeatedly heaped misery on his family for the past 15 years.

She was speaking after very nearly becoming the first mother of a gangster killed in the gun warfare which has claimed the lives of four young men in a month.

A hooded marksman was off target when he fired at the 56-year-old as she stood on her balcony telling him to go away a few minutes into New Year's Day — but the incident has left her feeling her own life is under as much threat as her son's.

The single mother spoke to The Royal Gazette yesterday about her dismay at the way her son leads his life — and her frustration at the politicians who ignored her warnings about the hundreds of young black men turning to gangs after being rejected by society.

"He wants to change; he wants an education. I have told him that I would sell everything I own if I knew he was being serious," said the mother, who asked not to be named.

"I have begged him to pack up and leave Bermuda. He's got two options: Westgate or six feet under. I prefer six feet under.

"Westgate doesn't help. It might help people like (reformed criminals) Shawn Crockwell and Charles Richardson but in most cases they come out more damaged than they went in. Not everyone has that strong family support."

Many calls have been made for gang members' families to stop turning a blind eye to their loved ones' activities, with some parents accused of profiting from their sons' illegal gains.

However, the mother says she has tried so hard to get her son on the right tracks since he first started getting into trouble as a schoolboy it's made her ill.

"I'm not living off what my son makes. I'm out there working and suffering. What hurts me is the talking behind my back, and the pointing," she said.

"They talk about these children like they are rotten to the core. When something rots, what do you do? They make me feel as though I have borne something that's now rotten and it needs to be disposed of.

"I see the doctor and get her to increase my blood pressure medication, try to control my cholesterol level, try to make sure my heart is ticking because it's pulling my health down.

"It's going to be him or me. My health is now in question because of what they are putting me through. They think I deserve it. I'm one of those parents who cry for help and the same public has turned their back.

"I see a child that has cried out for help ever since his father turned his back on him. My son grew up with a burning anger inside of him.

"He has a lot of hatred in his heart for his father. All he has lacked for is to have a strong male in his life. He's never had a strong male in his life to say come and be with me."

The first signs something was wrong came when her son started getting bad grades at Berkeley. He was sent to see the school counsellor, who was also dealing with another 300 students and could not provide adequate advice.

Changes of schools failed to address his problems and, after dropping out of school at 15, began a life on the streets.

He still claims to want an education today but according to his mother he is one of the several hundred young men who got involved in gangs years ago and would like to leave but can't.

Long before Professor Mincy's report on the plight of black youths, the mother was pointing out the vicious cycle trapping people like her son, but she said her calls have not been acted on.

Only recently has Government recognised there's an education crisis, while for many years drugs and crime were dismissed as a problem for one corner of society.

Yet the mother claims to have spent the past 15 years speaking out at Progressive Labour Party rallies and trying to get help from a string of politicians to no avail, with Premier Ewart Brown repeatedly putting off one-on-one meetings and others not responding properly to letters.

"I have done all this and I am the parent that they don't want me to be," she said.

Now she is forced to pray that her own near-miss will trigger an unlikely wake-up call for her son.

"He does cry on my shoulder a lot because he knows he's not the person I want him to be," she said.

"But you have got to keep face with the people you are now associated with. Whether you want out or not, there are people out there who won't let you out."