Libyans living in Houston reacted Thursday to the death of Moammar Gadhafi.

Gadhafi, Libya's dictator for 42 years until he was ousted in an uprising-turned-civil war, was killed Thursday as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.

The 69-year-old Gadhafi is the first leader to be killed in the Arab Spring wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East, demanding the end of autocratic rulers and the establishment of greater democracy.

Many people fled Libya for a better life. Some of them ended up in Houston.

"The past few months were the worst months of my life," said Dina Dreiza, who arrived in Houston from Libya about two months ago.

Drieza's father sent her to Houston after pro-Gadhafi attacks inched closer to her home and school.

"The Gadhafi people closed the gates of the university and they just started shooting when we were there," Drieza said. "They captured some of the students."

Drieza said she and so many others have been waiting for Gadhafi's rule to end.

"I thought I was dreaming," she said of when she learned about Gadhafi's death. "I was extremely happy."

She called her father in Libya to celebrate.

"We are very glad that the rebels got rid of him," Moustafa Drieza said.

Moustafa Drieza said Libyans were celebrating in the streets.

"I'm hoping for a better Libya, a better tomorrow, a free country," Dina Dreiza said.

President Obama pledged his support as Libya begins a new chapter. "You have won your revolution and now we will be a partner as you forge ahead," he said.

That journey, said University of Houston political science professor Ryan Kennedy, will not be an easy one. He said the country must become a democracy, organize elections and more.

"On the one hand this does mark an important milestone in Libya's development. On the other hand Libya still has a lot more to go," he said. "It's got to redevelop its oil industry. It's got to get its economy back on track."

It may be a long road to recovering from the 42 year wrath of Gadhafi, but thousands of Libyans say they are more than ready. "I'm very hopeful," said Benkato. "I feel like the Libyan people have fought so hard for this, I don't think they're going to give up with something mediocre."

There were conflicting accounts about Gadhafi's final hours, with the interim government saying he was captured unharmed and later mortally wounded in the crossfire from both sides. A second account described how he was already wounded in the chest when he was seized and later sustained the other wounds.

Interim government officials said one of Gadhafi's sons, his former national security adviser Muatassim, also was killed in Sirte, and another, one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam, was wounded and captured.

Gadhafi's death decisively ends a regime that had turned Libya into an international pariah and ran the oil-rich nation by the whim and brutality of its notoriously eccentric leader.

Arab broadcasters showed graphic images of the balding, goateed Gadhafi -- wounded, with a bloodied face and shirt -- but alive.

Later video showed fighters rolling Gadhafi's lifeless body over on the pavement, stripped to the waist and a pool of blood under his head.

Standing, he was shoved along a Sirte road by fighters who chanted "God is great." Gadhafi appears to struggle against them, stumbling and shouting as the fighters push him onto the hood of a pickup truck.

He was driven around lying on the hood of a truck, according to the video. One fighter is seen holding him down, pressing on his thigh with a pair of shoes in a show of contempt.