First American killed in Paris identified as California college student

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23-year-old American woman killed in Paris attacks

California State University, Long Beach student identified among victims

A California college student is the first American to be identified among the dead from the terror attacks in and around Paris on Friday night.

Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old California State University, Long Beach student, was the first U.S. citizen named among the scores of dead from the Islamist assault in France, the college said Saturday afternoon.

Gonzalez, a junior, was in Paris attending Strate College of Design during a semester abroad program.

"I and the entire campus are heartbroken to share this terrible news," Jane Close Conoley, the college's president, said at an afternoon press conference.

"Nohemi was in Paris participating in a study abroad program, at a restaurant with other students when she was wounded," Conoley said, adding that 16 other CSU Long Beach students that were also studying in Paris are safe.

"Today we mourn her loss... and tomorrow there will be a vigil," Conoley said.

"We as a city could not be more heartbroken," Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said at the conference.

"As a nation, I think it is important that we come together to support our strong ally in the French people," Garcia said.

The university's vice president for external relations, Terri Carbaugh, said one of Gonzalez' friends saw her carried out on a stretcher after being shot.

"It was the heroism of that student [that] helped us to know throughout the night, the details," Carbaugh said.

"We're very grateful that we are able to know the fate of Nohemi as soon as we have been, and that is because of her friends."

An American was also identified among the wounded, and Helen Jane Wilson was undergoing surgery late Saturday at a Paris hospital.

Wilson was at the Bataclan concert hall to hear the Eagles of Death Metal band perform Friday night when gunmen burst into the venue, killing 89 people. Wilson told The Associated Press she was shot in the leg and was heading into surgery at L'hopital Saint-Antoine.

Wilson said she lived in New Orleans before moving to Paris, where she runs Rock en Bol, a catering company. According to her Facebook page, Wilson is originally from Los Angeles.