Four men who grew up near St. Monica's Road are urging people to put aside regional differences and rally as one community.

Brothers Wayne, Dwayne and Travis Caines and Dr. Lou Matthews yesterday launched a grassroots movement to bring an end to gang violence through mentoring and mediation.

And they are challenging community leaders to meet with gang members to try to broker a ceasefire within the next 30 days.

Following the fatal shooting of Kumi Harford in the early hours of Saturday, they say it is time for all Bermudians to "make a stand" and unite to find solutions.

Mr. Harford, 30, is the sixth person to be shot in five weeks, in four separate incidents.

The new group, named 'Rise Above, Bermuda', issued the following statement last night:

"We challenge the community leaders to directly intervene in the escalating gang violence through talks and actions which facilitate immediate ceasing of gun violence within the next 30 days.

"We challenge young men and women involved in gang violence and activity to an immediate ceasing of gun violence and ask young men and women to choose to live a violence-free existence within the next 30 days.

"We challenge each local neighbourhood church, football club and community organisation to develop immediate, strategic, public one-year plans for the spiritual, intellectual, social or physical growth of our neighbourhoods within the next 30 days.

"We challenge each Bermudian to commit to the mentorship of at least one child in a real and tangible way via church, school, etc. within the next 30 days."

Mr. Harford was gunned down in St. Monica's Road, Pembroke also known as 42nd Street.

Dwayne Caines said: "When I went up to St. Monica's Road on Saturday, everyone was coming up, shaking their heads and saying, 'Not again'.

"One elderly woman was peering through her window and her face looked paralysed with fear."

Mr. Caines, who is the Bermuda Police Service media relations officer but who was speaking in a personal capacity, said he also knew Mr. Harford.

"In Bermuda we have two degrees of separation," he said. "Even if you don't know a person, you know their family.

"We have to get out of this regional mentality and come together as a community, in order to find long-term solutions. We are asking people to make a stand.

"These young men need to feel they are 'part of the franchise', that Bermuda is a place where they can take an active role and have the opportunities they see splashed in their faces every day.

"People join gangs because they need to feel part of something. It all comes from a sense of belonging, and perhaps they do not have family they can trust or believe in."

He said: "I feel a large segment of the community feels left out. There's a glass ceiling where they can look up but cannot reach, so we need to give them the tools and resources to obtain it.

"With opportunities comes a better way of life."

Wayne Caines, former Government Senator and Chief of Staff, now the CEO of Digicel Bermuda, said: "One of the reasons we know they can make it is because we did it. We are part of that community. We might not live in the area anymore but we have faced the same issues.

"We want to support them and to provide a solution. We want them to know there is another way, that there are opportunities through education and mentorship.

"We all grew up in that area, Happy Valley, Parsons Road, playing football at 'The Desert', and that's a community we believe is a base for who we are and where we come from.

"Over the last six months we've seen an increase in violence and it's troubled us, and so we've realised we have to do something.

"We feel it's a necessity for us to get involved and to put in place a plan of action to deal with the violence in our community.

"There are legitimate ways to resolve conflict. We don't have the answer but we're going to try to meet with them on the same level and broker some kind of peace treaty or ceasefire."

Mr. Caines, a former Crown Counsel, also called for a gun amnesty and tougher penalties.

"There has to be a multi-pronged approach by the community. We need to stand up and say, 'enough is enough'," he said.

Dr. Matthews, a former mathematics professor at Georgia State University and the University of South Carolina, US, said: "We believe these three major areas will resonate with the entire nation: a direct action approach to gang violence; the empowerment of neighbourhood agencies and resources; and a national mission of action for all Bermudians.

"We want to enlist every Bermudian to engage in the spiritual and mental growth of all our children. We want to encourage them to identify with what they could do within their local communities."

He said: "We also have to identify community partners who will intervene and facilitate peace. We need to challenge neighbourhood churches and football clubs to have a plan for the growth of their community.

"This violence is destabilising the whole country. It is time to make a stand."

In the first stage of their action plan, the Caines brothers and Dr. Matthews are asking members of the public to email them with ideas and solutions, to: riseabovebermuda@gmail.com

They have also launched the group 'We Will Rise Above, Bermuda!' on the social networking Internet site Facebook.