Police are investigating whether Friday night's double shooting outside Southside Cinema is connected to two other recent gun attacks.

Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Wright was asked at a press conference yesterday whether detectives believe there is any link between the incident outside Southside Cinema and shootings in Pembroke on October 31 and November 7.

In the first a 21-year-old man was shot, while two men were shot at in Middletown in the second incident.

Mr. Wright said officers were keeping an open mind, adding: "That's definitely one of the lines of inquiry that we are pursuing."

On Friday, Shaki Minors, 26, and girlfriend Renee Kuchler, 24, were shot as they got into a car at about 11.20 p.m.

Both were taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries. According to the Police, who have not named the victims, they suffered multiple gun shot wounds.

Superintendent Antoine Daniels, of the Serious Crime Unit, refused to comment on whether Ms Kuchler, who is in intensive care, was pregnant at the time of the incident or whether Mr. Minors, who has been moved to a general ward, was being investigated in relation to a shooting at Middletown.

Supt. Daniels said Police had some suspects in connection with the recent Middletown shooting, and added: "I am not going to say if it was the victim (in Friday's shooting), but we are definitely pursuing that angle."

He added: "I am not going to tell you how many times they were shot, but it was numerous gun shot wounds to different parts of the body and they appear to be recuperating quite well."

Two men, a 28-year-old Pembroke man and 18-year-old Devonshire man, have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with Friday's incident.

Speaking generally, Mr. Wright said a small number of "well-known violent offenders intent on attacking each other" were to blame for the rise in violent crime.

So far, Police have identified 211 prolific violent and drug offenders on the Island, he said, some of whom have been arrested as many as 30 times in the last four years.

He said: "The Bermuda Police Service is very concerned about this escalation of violence which appears to be gang related. Naturally there is also a great deal of alarm and anxiety shared by many people in our community.

"I want to assure everyone that reducing the violence and catching and convicting the persons responsible is a top priority for the Bermuda Police Service."

Mr. Wright continued: "Prior to and throughout this period there has been a significant Police presence on the streets. The Bermuda Police Service has exercised powers to search in anticipation of further violence resulting in hundreds of searches and arrests for a wide variety of offences.

"Despite the inconvenience caused to law abiding members of the public, the proactive actions of the Police have been very well received and supported.

"The Serious Crime Unit has been expanded and is committed to fully investigating every incident. We now have investigators working alongside uniformed Police Support Unit and Armed Response officers from the public protection department."

Police currently have systems in place which allow officers to investigate prolific priority offenders when they come in contact with them.

"We know what we are confronted with," he said. "The safety of our community is threatened by a small number of well-known violent offenders that are intent on attacking each other. They have an absolute disregard for the safety of others that may be placed in danger or otherwise affected by their violent actions."

The Police "are catching these individuals" and "putting them before the court with the help of the Department of Public Prosecutions", Mr. Wright said, adding: "It's not an easy task getting them there."

Both Mr. Wright and Supt. Daniels appealed to the community to come forward with any information that could lead to the perpetrators coming to justice.

Mr. Wright believes there are many people who have witnessed incidents, who can even identify the offenders, but who have chosen not to cooperate with Police. "The community owes these offenders no shelter from the full weight of the law. They must be held to account," he said.

He added: "There are people in the community that have good nuggets of information that can help corroborate or reinforce things we already know.

"Yes we have arrested people, but there is always room to add more evidence to what has already been gathered, that is why we are appealing to people to call us regardless of if they think the information they have is significant.

"There were 140 people at the movie theatre that night, and there were multiple people moving around outside, some well travelled restaurants very close to that, it's a popular area."