HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC — Ronniko Burchall, Premier Division Boulevard Community Club’s 30-year goalkeeper, has died after being gunned down in what police say was a gang-related killing over the weekend.
Burchall, whose last appearance for his club came just over a week ago in a 2-1 defeat against Dandy Town in a Friendship Trophy semi-final, was shot several times at point-blank range outside a Christmas party attended by around 100 guests at St David’s County Cricket Club at around 1.40 a.m. on Saturday.
He died in hospital of his injuries on Sunday afternoon.
Police arrested a 31-year-old man in St David’s 20 minutes later in connection with the murder, Bermuda’s fourth of 2018.
Burchall had faced trial for murder and attempted murder in the past.
Burchall was one of three men charged with attempted murder in Supreme Court in 2013.
The men, who denied the charge, were accused of shooting another man in his buttocks outside a house in Pembroke parish in February of the previous year. Puisne Judge Stephen Hellman ordered the jury to find them not guilty of attempted murder, and the men were tried on a lesser charge of causing grievous bodily harm and using a firearm.
A jury cleared all three, along with another man charged with handling a firearm.
Burchall faced a murder charge in 2011 alongside his half-brother, Leroy Symons.
It was alleged that they were responsible for the shooting murder of Shane Minors, who was 30, outside his home in the early hours of December 17, 2009.
Both men pleaded not guilty to the charge but blamed each other for the killing during the trial.
A jury cleared both men of the charges by a unanimous verdict.
