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Gunman kills 13, self

Many of the victims at N.Y. immigrant services center studying to become citizens

April 04, 2009|By Geraldine Baum and Anna Gorman , Tribune Newspapers

The city's main street features old, four-story brick buildings in the classic style of the industrial Northeast, with a sprinkling of ethnic restaurants and food markets and a memorial promenade dedicated to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The Binghamton area is the birthplace of IBM, which has suffered job cuts in recent years.

The American Civic Association, the mayor said, has been "a mainstay of our community." The group assists immigrants and refugees with resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters and translators. Many of its clients fled war and conflict in other countries and are working to build new lives in the U.S., according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

Every pew was filled Friday evening at a candlelight vigil for the victims at Redeemer Lutheran Church.

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In attendance was Greg Jenkins, a disaster coordinator for the Broome County Council of Churches, who said the area had a long history of welcoming immigrants. "They were trying to do it the right way, becoming American citizens," he said of the victims, shaking his head as he gripped a candle.

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