Eighth rapper slain in two years in Medellin

A teenage Colombian rapper was killed in a troubled Medellin neighborhood, his friends said Saturday -- the eighth musician murdered there in the last two years. Roberth Steve, 17, a student at a hip hop school and a member of a musical group, was gunned down Friday in Comuna 13, one of the poorest and most violent areas of the northeastern Colombian city once synonymous with drug violence. Two weeks ago, Colombian rapper and peace activist "El Duke" was murdered in same neighborhood. And dozens of young residents last Wednesday said they were leaving after having received death threats. "We did not expect this loss," Jhon Sanchez, head of a group of local musicians, told AFP, saying Steve was just a young man. "Now we are afraid for our lives." "El Duke," whose real name was Elider Varela, had spearheaded a program to try to get poor kids in the neighborhood off the streets and away from drugs and crime. His killing on October 30 set off a wave of anger in the community.