After a respite of some six months, Bermuda recorded a murder on Friday with the shooting of 29-year-old Colford Ferguson.Mr Ferguson has been described as coming from Warwick with a four-year-old daughter. What took him to Mangrove Bay in Somerset and why he was shot to death is obviously the subject of a Police investigation. Still, the first hope must be that friends and associates of Mr Ferguson will not seek revenge on whomever they believe was responsible for his death. Nothing is served by another spiral of shootings.Secondly, there appear to have been several witnesses to what seems to have been a brazen daylight shooting. It is critical that these witnesses come forward to help the Police in their investigation; that is the only way to achieve a conviction and to demonstrate that these crimes have consequences.In fact, the Police and prosecutors have had a good deal of success in recent months in gaining convictions for serious crimes. This case will be a test of whether this success can be sustained and if the community will still respond. The choice is stark. Failure to cooperate leads down the road to lawlessness and mob rule. Cooperation leads down the road to security for all members of the public and a society based on respect for the law.This seems clear-cut, but there are still too many people in this community with a misguided sense of loyalty and the notion that the Police, or any authority, are the enemy. It should also be recalled that while this is the first shooting death since August, it is not the first serious crime, and while the Police deserve credit for limiting the damage, Bermuda is not yet out of the woods.It is also welcome that the Government, in its recent policy announcements, reiterated its desire to get to the root causes of serious crime and the gang environment. This newspaper again encourages both the Government and the Governor, who has responsibility for the Police, to adopt the Ceasefire programme which has had proven success in small and large cities and towns in the US and now in Canada and the UK.This newspaper also supports the proposals to have gang activity identified as a crime, as has happened in Canada. In tandem with work and education programmes which are an integral part of Ceasefire, this could enable Bermuda to eradicate the gang menace, which is at the root of much of the current upsurge in violent crime. Again, this newspaper urges that the death of Colford Ferguson does not lead to a new upsurge in gun crime. The best possible legacy from this death is that his life is the last lost to gun crime.