Police have identified Deshaun Jerry Berkley as the man who lost his life in a shooting outside the Western Stars Sports Club.

The 30-year-old Devonshire man was fatally shot at around 1.20am on Thursday at a private event held at the St John’s Road club.

About eight shots were heard just after the party celebrating the life of Garry “Fingas” Cann wrapped up shortly after 1am, according to Carla Zuill, the club’s assistant secretary.

At a press conference yesterday morning called by the sports club, president Willis Dill extended heartfelt sympathies to the victim’s family on behalf of the club and called on witnesses to come forward.

“Unfortunately, another one of our sons of the soil met with tragedy last night,” he said. “People had to be here, someone had to see something and we’re asking that anyone who was here at the club last night would be gracious enough to inform the police of anything that they saw, regardless of how insignificant it is.”

Ms Zuill was bartending at the event in honour of Mr Cann, who was shot dead in 2009; she said it had been a peaceful celebration of his life from what she could see.

“For this to happen is really heart-wrenching and I’m taken aback because there wasn’t even a scuffle in the club,” she told the media.

Reflecting on the social media reaction to the incident, she urged the public to stop taking and circulating pictures.

“Within moments of the gentleman being shot, people were pulling out their phones, taking pictures — pictures are now circulating.

“It’s very disrespectful to the families. Imagine having to see your child dead on the ground.”

Ms Zuill also stressed that the club had worked hard to “get rid of certain elements”.

She said: “And I’m going to be frank — it hasn’t been easy because, the more we try, sometimes the more kickback we get.

“We hope that this does not malign our club in any way. This was not a Dandy Town, Western Stars event. Unfortunately, it goes to show that you cannot control other people’s actions.”

Mr Dill stressed that the club had worked tirelessly to clean up any bad elements but added: “All of that good we have down in those two years, close to two years now, basically people will still look at us differently as a result of what took place here.

“We have to again figure out how do we rise up now based on what’s happened. Hopefully, people will look at it not as the club, just the fact that it happened here.”

Senator Jeff Baron, the Minister of National Security, emphasised that while the incident happened at the club, it was not the establishment’s fault.

“You don’t own this. This could have happened on Front Street, it could have happened on Court Street, it could have happened in Somerset.”

He called on the community to rally around and support the club, noting all the good work it does in the community.

Mr Baron also said that such incidents should not be allowed to impact the island’s culture, sporting events or sporting clubs.

Michael Weeks, the Shadow Minister of Sport and Community, and a former Western Stars executive member, extended his sympathies but stated that “this is not a Western Stars problem, this is a community problem.

“It’s not a sport problem, it’s a social issue,” he said. “We can’t let a small minority of people who seek to disrupt our everyday life to stop our events.

“We must show them that we run our community and not that small group that’s hellbent on killing each other.”

He said more community organisations and churches need to come to the table to find a way to stop what is happening. But he added that the Bermuda Government is also going to have to look at expanding the CCTV network.

“As much as its not a sporting club problem, that’s where a lot of our people gather, so we have to do what we can at a minimum to make it safe and if that means making sure that CCTV is operational in every single sporting and community club on the island, then that is where we have to start from.”

According to a police spokesman, officers responded to a report of gunfire near the St John’s Road club at about 1.20am, adding that Mr Berkley’s death is being treated as a murder.

The spokesman said that a full investigation is now under way, and police are urging anyone with information to contact the investigating officer, Acting Detective Inspector Jason Smith of the Serious Crime Unit, on 717-0864 or the independent Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-8477.