Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 19/02) - Family and friends of Eddie Paul Beyonnie could always count on him to lend a sympathetic ear, but are now turning to each other for comfort.

The death last Friday of the 22-year-old Ndilo resident has shaken the community and broken the hearts of Eddie's family, friends, teachers, co-workers and classmates.

His death sparked the first homicide investigation in Yellowknife in almost a decade.

Eddie's death has shocked and angered all those who knew and loved him.

Friends and family are especially confused that the suspect in the killing, Derek Jason Sangris, was once a good friend of Eddie's.

"They were all friends. They all grew up together," said Paul Mackenzie, Eddie's father.

The events that led up to the death are a mystery to both the Mackenzie and Beyonnie families.

Even more frustrating is the fact that the RCMP will not release any details of the event that led to his death as it is now before the courts.

"They (the RCMP) won't give us any information yet. It's too soon," said his father.

Several family members were in territorial court Tuesday for Sangris' first appearance, but were disappointed when the matter was set for another date.

Eddie's father, older brother Felix and aunt Carol Mackenzie always tried to look out for the youngest member of their family.

"I tried to look out for him," said Felix. "I tried."

"I would tell him all the time to call and tell me where he was," said his father. Carol agreed that she did the same, always making sure she knew how and where Eddie was spending his time. But sadly they have no idea what Eddie was doing the night of his untimely death. For now all they can do is comfort each other and remember the good times and laughter they all shared together.

"It's pretty hard," said Paul Mackenzie, sitting at the picnic table outside his mother's home, surrounded by his family.

"When a tragedy happens like this, a family takes it hard," he said. And the pain and sorrow they are all feeling is "hard to say in words."

Warren Cummins, Eddie's wildlife teacher at St. Pat's high school, says he has been dealing with the cycle of shock, anger and sadness that accompanies every tragedy.

"I just went through the whole range of emotions within a very short period of time," he says.

But the healing process must begin sooner than later, says Cummins, and he had a few words of advice to offer Eddie's friends and classmates in their time of grief.

"Do what Eddie would have done and quietly take it in and internalize it and turn it into something productive and creative.