A music executive and a British man who worked for the rock band Eagles of Death Metal were among the people killed by terrorists Friday night as the group, which originates in Palm Desert, performed at the Bataclan in Paris, it was reported Monday.
“I cannot even begin to express the depth of my sorrow,” Universal Music Group Chairman Lucian Grainge wrote in a note to employee discussing the death of Thomas Ayad. “On behalf of everyone here at UMG, we extend our most profound sympathies to his parents and all of his friends and family.”
Grainge called the death of Ayad, an international product manager for Mercury, “an unspeakably appalling tragedy.”
Eagles of Death Metal was seven songs into its sold-out concert when gunshots interrupted the performance. Of the 129 deaths blamed on ISIS terrorists, 89 were killed at the Bataclan.
The band members escaped unharmed. But Nick Alexander, a British man who sold merchandise for Eagles of Death Metal, was among those killed.
In a statement to the British press, Alexander’s family said that “with huge sorrow … we can confirm that our beloved Nick lost his life at the Bataclan last night.” A statement said he “died doing the job he loved and we take great comfort in knowing how much he was cherished by his friends around the world.”
Britain’s The Independent newspaper reported that Alexander was 36 and from Colchester in Essex.
About 500 people gathered on the Cal State Long Beach campus Sunday to mourn a 23-year-old university student killed in the terror attacks.
Nohemi Gonzalez of El Monte, a senior majoring in industrial design, was one of 17 CSULB students attending a college of design in Paris as part of a semester abroad program. She was killed while having dinner with friends at a popular bistro called La Belle Equipe.
University President Dr. Jane Close Conoley told the mourners that the university is a tight-knit community that shares the Gonzalez family’s grief, saying her death was”an assault on our hearts.”
“We miss her today and we’ll miss her forever,” Conoley said.
—City News Service