In January 2005, Rakan Hassan, 12, was shot and paralyzed, and his parents were killed when their car was riddled with gunfire by a US Army patrol in Iraq.

Rakan was brought to Boston through the efforts of humanitarians determined that he receive medical care.

Now, with the news that Rakan was killed by a bomb planted at his home in Mosul, Rakan's time in Boston seems more precious, more fleeting, more tragic for what could have been.