Binghamton Victims 'Died Seeking Better Lives'

The immigrants gunned down in Binghamton on Friday were from all corners of the world, the New York Times reports; they came together in the classroom where they, along with the killer, had been studying English. Two Americans—a teacher and a receptionist—were killed in the rampage. Four of the other 11 victims came from China, two came from Haiti, and the others were from Brazil, Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The regular teacher of the class, who tells the Times that shooter Jiverly Wong was an intermittent and "fragile" student before he dropped out in March, was on vacation Friday; the teacher filling in for her was killed. The dead ranged in age from 22 to 72. The Iraqi victim, a mother of three, survived three bombings in her homeland before coming to the US last year. "She was to come to my graduation this year,” said one of her sons, a student at Binghamton High School. "She said, ‘I want to see you graduate in America." (More Binghamton, NY stories.)