A celebrated US educator has urged Bermudians to come together as one family before another life is lost through violence.

Steve Perry, who has achieved a zero percent dropout rate at his high school in Connecticut, said everyone in Bermuda has "blood on our hands" for the death of Kumi Harford.

Mr. Harford, 30, was gunned down in St. Monica's Road, Pembroke, on Saturday, in what is believed to be an ongoing turf war between rival gangs Parkside and 42nd Crew. He is the sixth person to be shot in five weeks.

That evening Dr. Perry was to address a public forum to talk about education. However, in the wake of the escalating violence, he warned the people of Bermuda to recover their family values before a generation of children is lost.

"What is going on in this community when I awaken to a child's death?," he said.

"Not one of us knows what we lost in that child today. We might have lost a cure for cancer, we might have lost a great educator. We definitely lost a father, a friend, and somebody who would have made someone laugh one day.

"Every single life is special. We have no idea what we lost, and I am here to tell you, we all have blood on our hands."

Dr. Perry chastised absent fathers and single mothers who placed too much responsibility on their children at a young age. He also said the Island's public school system was failing its students.

"Bermuda, you are sitting on a powder keg," he warned.

"When you have schools that are not educating children for the very economy that is in place today, we have ourselves a problem.

"When young men don't have men in their lives and don't have a school system that is giving them support, you get thugs."

Up to 1,000 people packed the Heritage Worship Centre in Hamilton to hear Dr. Perry speak.

The educator, who recently appeared on CNN's 'Black in America 2', was invited to speak in Bermuda by his friend Scott Pearman, chief operating officer at radio station Hott 107.5.

Dr. Perry started the Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut. The high school has a 100 percent graduation and college acceptance rate among its mainly black and Latino students, and is considered one of the most successful in the US.

He is also an author and a nationally sought-after speaker.

Dr. Perry had a message for Bermudians on Saturday to express their love for their children and to support one another in raising them.

"The children on this Island are all your children, every single one of these children are yours," he said.

"We have to do a better job of raising our children, which means we have to start looking into ourselves and ask ourselves, what are some of the issues we are dealing with."

He said: "Paying child support does not make you a good father. Having a child throw up on you when he is ill, that's what being a good father is."

And he said parents should just let their children be children.

"These children want good schools, they want to learn, to love, and to be kids, man. They don't want to have to come home and take on your responsibilities.

"Too many of you talk to your children as if they are your colleague or partner. Who cares what their opinion is? They are children."

Dr. Perry also stressed the importance of a good education.

"Education is central to the success of every single human being," he said. "You are likely to live more, the more education you get, and you are healthier and happier.

"You are less likely to have a child out of wedlock or go to prison. Educated people are safer people because they see a future.

"But when you have a school system that is failing, you create a generation of unsafe people. No one is safe when people are being murdered."

He asked: "Do you have the ability to work together, even when that means working with someone you don't like? Political parties mean nothing when you're going to a funeral.

"Bermuda, I am here to tell you that I am afraid for you. I am here to tell you not to allow another child to perish at the hands of another.

"There is no comfort in the discomfort of burying a child. There is no one who is safe when children are unsafe."

He said: "This is your time Bermuda, your children need you to lead, and beyond your ability and at a strength you may not yet be at.

"You have the opportunity to make something now of your community if you have the courage to do so.

"Family is what will save this country. What I have seen as I have walked around is a love for your country. Where is your love for each other?"

Dr. Perry added: "You owe it to your children to make them realise you do care about them, that you really do love them."