to collapse in the arms of his mother.

And yesterday grieving Sandra Cyrus, 47, claimed her son named his killer before he died.

Ms Cyrus said she was standing outside her house on Saturday night when her son arrived home with blood pouring from horrific wounds.

She said: "I heard a funny noise and looked round -- he was just soaked in blood. I don't know how he hung on so long.

"The people who did this had no mercy. They just gunned him down.'' Father-of-two Mr. Caines, 28, was shot three times at point-blank range just after 9 p.m. through the window of a house on Middletown Lane, Pembroke, only yards from his home in Union Street.

He was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

It is understood a man has been arrested in connection with an incident in Middletown Lane and the probe into Mr. Caines' murder was continuing.

Brother Jamel, 26, who was at his brother's side when he died, said: "The blood was just spraying out of him. He just dropped to the ground and started shaking. But he hung on long enough to tell us who did it.'' Ms Cyrus said she had no idea what led to the killing but she said her son, who worked as a painter and yard cleaner on a casual basis, had spoken of being threatened.

She added: "He said people had been threatening him for a long time but I guess he didn't take it that seriously.'' Ms Cyrus was speaking at her home, which yesterday still had bloodstains on the porch where Mr. Caines died.

She said: "He walked all that way from where he was and he told me he was going to die. I just held him.

Stunned father Ali Shed added: "The strength he had was incredible -- he was something else. He was my son and he's gone.'' And he called for a Police clampdown on violent crime -- and the return of the death penalty.

Mr. Shed said: "These things have got to be stopped -- all these guns which are coming on to the Island.

"They should bring back hanging. Then people would think twice about doing things like this.'' One neighbour -- who asked not to be named -- said she was terrified by rocketing crime and violence.

She added: "I know the family and nobody deserved to die like this. He was shot down like a dog.

"And it's getting worse -- the cops either aren't doing enough or they just don't care.'' Mr. Caines was arrested in December last year in connection with the snatching of a baby girl from the maternity ward at the hospital.

The baby -- who was out of the hospital for less than 30 minutes -- was returned unharmed to the hospital after Police swamped the area and recovered the child. No charges were ever brought.

Ms Cyrus said: "People are making him out to be a bad person, but he was my son and I'll defend him.'' Anyone with information on the incident should call Det. Insp. Sinclair White at 295-0011.

The murder is the second to rock Bermuda in the space of a week. Canadian visitor Rebecca Middleton, 17, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death near St. George's early on Wednesday morning.

Tribute to `Becky': Page 3