The Mid-Atlantic Boat Club has vowed to close ranks against gangsters after much-loved regular Michael Phillips was shot dead on the premises.“We are going to get our club back,” secretary Marcia Fubler told The Royal Gazette.“Let these little boys know that we are taking it back, whether they like it or not.”Members have been “sombre and angry” since the killing of Mr Phillips on Sunday night.The 42-year-old was gunned down as he sat on his motorcycle near the club’s North Shore Road driveway. A second gunman peppered the walls with bullets and sent patrons diving for cover.The popular Devonshire bar and sports club has been shut since.Ms Fubler said she’d had difficulty sleeping since having to review security footage with police.“I was pretty close with Mikey. My husband and him were really tight. There have been incidents at the club before where I had to deal with police, but having to do this has been totally different.”The club has always maintained security, ranging from surveillance cameras to pat-downs of patrons after 9pm.But Ms Fubler promised: “When we open again, people are going to find a major change.”With 107 members, the club has a tight community of regulars who intend to stand their ground.“To put it frankly, we have our devoted members who know that it’s their club. They are going to come back,” she said.“At the same time, there are people that don’t regularly attend the club that are saying they won’t come back. It’s business stuff — it happens, life goes on. We still have to pay the bills and run the club. At the moment, we are closed out of respect.”Mr Phillips was not a member, but attended the establishment so frequently that he has been awarded all the privileges of a member.“He was one of us. People are angry; they don’t understand why. Why him? He was the type of guy who’d do everything for you, and he loved his children dearly.”Asked if a violent element had managed to infiltrate the bar, Ms Fubler said: “Not on a regular basis. On Fridays and Sundays we get outsiders after football games, and when we have happy hour.”Ms Fubler spoke after a meeting of the executive membership at which extensive security arrangements were agreed upon.“We have to do what we have to do,” she said, likening the club to a neighbourhood bar where “everybody knows everybody”.She said she had “no idea” what motivated the attack, either on Mr Phillips or the club itself.Adding that she wasn’t there at the time, Ms Fubler said: “I just know [the second man] shot into the crowd, not at anyone in particular. There were bullets all over the place. There’s no damage inside, they’re just in the walls.”A memorial to Mr Phillips, a taxi driver and father-of-two, may be planned at the club depending on the wishes of his family.Police have appealed for witnesses or anyone with information to telephone 295-0011, or CrimeStoppers on 800-8477.