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By KRYS GRANDMOND
Staff Writer

For years, we've lived with violence. It's been in movies, in music-videos, in songs, in books, in poems, in newspapers, and even children's television shows. But Canadians, nestled up here in the northern half of the western hemisphere, feel somewhat sheltered and immune to the stabbings and shootings that we see all-too often in American news.

But what do you do when the violence isn't next door? What do you do when careless gun slinging and brutal murders are happening at home?

As many of you know, international hip-hop artist, 50 Cent, was shot nine times. Everybody talks about it. Even 50 himself. And we all know and mourn the deaths of artists like Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.

When hispanic singing sensation, Selena, was killed by her fan-club president back in 1996, the Spanish music industry, as well as many many fans, suffered an incredible loss.

What you may not know, though, is that on Saturday, February 21st, 2004, murders DID take place. Lives were lost, and they were lost at home.

Elliot Reid-Thomas. A name that's been in the news quit a bit over the last week. Do you know why?

Ghetto Concept. Another name in news recently. What do they have to do with violence?

I'll tell you.

The group, a Canadian, Juno-winning, hip-hop, anti-violence group, were one of the victims to lose someone close to them that dreadful night in Toronto, Ontario. Elliot Reid-Thomas, their manager, was shot in the back as he was leaving an after hours club Saturday night.

A man who wanted nothing more than to promote great music and make a difference in people's lives. A man who took a wrong turn in his teens, but admitted to his mistakes and turned his life around to steer himself straight into a successful and long career. A man who was only 29 years old.

Elliot Reid-Thomas was more than just a manager. He was family to Ghetto Concept. He was a father to one. And he was a friend to many.

Elliot's death was the city of Toronto's seventh murder so far this year. The death of Eion Rush, another name in the news recently, marks Toronto's eighth. An alarming climb from three: the number of murders at this same time last year.

Eion Rush, while not influential to the music industry, was still influential in some lives. He was merely 27 years old and was a father of three. His daughter, only 2 months old, will never know her father. She will grow up with pictures and stories as the only way of knowing someone who was supposed to raise her. And all because of some heartless "thug" with a gun.

Soundline Vice-President, Krista Hall, knew Eion very well, and is taking the loss as hard as his family, all of whom she's known for over a year, and lived with for the last four months. According to Eion's sister, Krista is as much a part of his immediate family as any of them, and she will feel this loss for the rest of her life.

As will many of us. While we may not have lost a friend, or a family member in that weekend's shootings and stabbings, we all lost a sense of security.

Something that made home feel not-so-safe, anymore.