The year was notorious for a wave of violent crime in which nine people were murdered — one of the highest numbers on record.

Perhaps what rocked the island more was the manner in which many of those victims were slain — and that seven of those murders took place over a span of just six weeks at the start of summer.

The warning signs first appeared at the end of March, by which time there had been five firearms incidents in 2024, resulting in one injury.

Police suggested that apparent increasing friction between rival gangs was responsible for the spike.

The first serious shooting incident took place at the beginning of May, when four men were shot in broad daylight on Middle Town Lane in Pembroke. Two of the victims required surgery for their wounds.

The island recorded its first murder of 2024 when Zijae Jones, 20, was stabbed during a brawl on Horseshoe Bay on the May 24 public holiday — the “official” start of summer. An 18-year-old man was charged with the murder three days later.

The first fatal shooting took place in the early hours of June 7, when Diante Trimm, a 37-year-old mother of five, was shot dead in her home on South Terrace in Pembroke.

Although the murder was described as a “targeted attack”, police did not confirm if Ms Trimm was the intended target. No charges have been brought.

A month later, on July 7, four people — a man, a woman and two young children — were found dead at an apartment, also on South Terrace.

Police later closed the case after determining that Nicole Parfitt, 39, and her two children, Drae-E, 9, and Na-Vii, 4, had been stabbed to death, while the man, Ramon Trimm, 40, had died by suicide.

In an unprecedented week for the island, those four deaths were followed three days later by a double murder in which Razi Garland, 18, and Amon Robinson, 19, were shot in the Fort Scaur area of Sandys.

Two men were later arrested in connection with the daylight shooting.

The tragedies prompted leaders to issue calls for action.

At a press conference, David Burt, the Premier, said that steps would be taken to stem the violence.

Flanked by Progressive Labour Party colleagues, Mr Burt said: “In these dark times, we must continue to work to ensure a more hopeful future.

“We must collectively summon the strength inside us and not allow our island to be defined by these tragedies, but by how we respond to them and to one another.

“I am committed to ensuring that additional funds are allocated to support important initiatives that will further assist those in need in breaking the cycle of violence that our community has endured.”

Rena Lalgie, the Governor, admitted to being “shocked” by the crime wave.

“I know that the Bermuda Police Service are determined to bring those responsible for these acts to justice and will not rest until they have achieved this goal,” she said.

“But policing alone will not solve this problem. The whole of our society must continue to work together to send a clear and unified message. The violence must stop now.”

It appears that criminals were not listening.

In another drive-by incident at the end of July, a woman in her twenties was lucky to escape with her life after being shot at several times while riding a bike with a male companion on South Road in Paget.

A further three people were injured in separate gun and knife attacks in September and October.

After a three-month lull in the killings, Ethan Arruda, 17, became the eighth murder victim of the year.

The Mount Saint Agnes Academy student died after being stabbed in the chest while attending a party at a home on Devonshire Bay Road, Devonshire, on October 27. Two men have since been arrested.

The nature of crime in Bermuda took a sinister turn at the end of August, when police were involved in a gunfight with two men on a motorcycle on Khyber Pass in Warwick.

The suspects fired at the patrol car and, while in pursuit, armed officers fired back. According to Commissioner of Police Darrin Simons, the incident was the first time that officers had fired their weapons at suspects.

No one was injured and the suspects were able to escape on foot.

In November, the Government finally acted when Michael Weeks, the national security minister, unveiled the National Violence Reduction Strategy.

The document gave special focus to gun and knife violence, opting to pursue “sustained reduction rather than total eradication”.

In a debate on the strategy in the House of Assembly on December 6, Mr Weeks declared that it represented “the collective will of our community” joining forces to confront “the reality of violence and its devastating impact”.

Ten days later, the island suffered its ninth murder of the year when a well-known cricketer was shot dead.

The body of Khiry Furbert, 34, the Western Stars, Somerset Cup Match and Bermuda wicketkeeper, was found by a passer-by on Tribe Road No 5, near Ord Road, in Paget.