The Ventura County Sheriff's Office has arrested a 50-year-old Moorpark man in connection to the death of 69-year-old Jewish man Paul Kessler last week.
Loay Abdelfattah Alnajii was charged with involuntary manslaughter after he allegedly hit Kessler with a megaphone during dueling protests in Thousand Oaks on November 5 before the Jewish man slipped and hit his head on the pavement.
Kessler eventually died in hospital the next day.
Alnajii, a computer science professor at the Ventura County Community College, has been detained before facing trial at a later date. He is currently being held in custody on a $1 million bail.
The Daily Mail was the first to name Alnajii as the prime person of interest in the incident.
Read Also: California: Elderly Jewish Man Killed in Competing Pro-Israel, Pro-Palestine Protests in LA
Elena Colombo creates a Star of David at a makeshift memorial at the site of an altercation between 69-year-old Paul Kessler, who was Jewish, and pro-Palestinian protestor on November 7, 2023 in Thousand Oaks, California. Kessler died of a head injury he sustained from falling during the confrontation at dueling Israeli and Palestinian protests on November 5. The death was ruled a homicide by the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Remembering Paul Kessler
The New York Post reported that Kessler's close friends remembered him as a proud Jew.
"He was not a closet Zionist - he wore it like a badge of honor. He was a proud Jew and proud Israel supporter," Kessler family friend Justin Cohen said.
It was previously reported that coroners from Ventura County ruled Kessler's death as a homicide, with the cause of death being a blunt-force head injury.
The charge was upgraded to involuntary manslaughter.
Related Article: Suspect in Death of Elderly Jewish Man 'Cooperative' in Homicide Investigation
