Heartbreaking and Senseless (click for full story)

BINGHAMTON, New York (CNN) -- Layla Khalil escaped the bombs that rocked Iraq during three years of insurgent and sectarian warfare, only to be gunned down while trying to learn English in her adopted hometown, family and friends said Sunday.


Hundreds took part in a vigil in Binghamton Sunday after an interfaith service for the victims of Friday's shooting.

Khalil, 57, was buried Sunday afternoon, two days after she and 12 others were shot to death Friday at the American Civic Association, an immigrant service center in Binghamton. Before coming to the United States in recent months, she narrowly escaped suicide bombings and a kidnapping in Baghdad, Iraq, where she worked as a librarian.

"The situation in Iraq is dangerous, everywhere dangerous," her 17-year-old son Mustafa told reporters after the funeral. "But we came here, and we hoped we'll get better lives."