California police are asking for videos and photos of the pro-Palestinian protest that led to the death of a 69-year-old Jewish man on Sunday.
Paul Kessler, 69, died Sunday after the protest in Thousand Oaks. Witnesses claimed he was hit in the head with a megaphone by a pro-Palestinian protester.
At a press conference today, police said they could not confirm whether he had been beaten as alleged, but confirmed the cause of death was a fatal blow to the back of the head that occurred as he fell to the ground.
It is unclear whether Kessler was pushed and how violent the altercation became.
His injuries included non-life-threatening blows to the side of the face, swelling and bleeding in the brain and a skull fracture.
The 58-year-old suspect has not yet been named or arrested, but police say he is cooperating with their investigation.
Yesterday he was taken into custody while police conducted a search of his Moorpark home. After the search was completed, he was released.
A Palestinian supporter appears to help Kessler after he clashed with other protesters
A witness says they saw 69-year-old Paul Kessler, pictured here, waving an Israeli flag before being accosted by a pro-Palestinian demonstrator during Sunday’s protest in Thousand Oaks.
In this photo from the scene, Kessler is attended to by medical personnel while an unidentified man is interviewed by police. It has not yet been confirmed whether this is the suspect. He is shown pointing to a megaphone and a Palestinian flag
He is among those who called 911 for help when Kessler fell and started bleeding.
The incident took place on Sunday at 3.22 pm. The next morning at 1:10 a.m., Kessler was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide, with blunt force trauma as the cause, but emphasized today that the determination does not necessarily equate to a crime.
‘It is a medical, legal determination. “It simply says that death occurred at the hands of another person… (but) murder does not indicate that a crime was committed.
“That’s a decision that has to be made by the district attorney’s office,” Chief Medical Examiner Christopher Young said.
As officials held their press conference, Kessler’s friends gathered at the protest site to pay their respects.
Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff speaks alongside Ventura County Chief Medical Examiner Chris R. Young during Tuesday’s press conference
Mourners visit the site where Paul Kessler was killed during a duel between Israel and Palestine at the intersection of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Westlake Road in Thousand Oaks, California
Avia Jacobs, of Westlake Village, cries Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, at the Shell gas station at the corner of Thousand Oaks and Westlake Boulevard, where Paul Kessler was injured two days earlier
Mourners visit the site where Paul Kessler was killed during a duel between Israel and Palestine at the intersection of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Westlake Road in Thousand Oaks, California on November 7, 2023
He had been photographed minutes before his death proudly holding an Israeli flag.
He and his wife Cheryl attended the event to peacefully combat the Palestinian protesters there.
His injuries could not stop those who supported Palestine. Video footage shows them continuing to chant anti-Israel slurs as Kessler was lifted into an ambulance and taken away.
Event organizers then took to social media to warn against ‘irresponsible assumptions’ online.
Witnesses told it ABC Los Angeles that both sides worked against each other when things got physical.
“They were both standing on a flat surface and they were yelling at each other, and then the guy brought his megaphone up and hit Paul, and Paul went down,” said an unnamed witness.
A memorial of flowers and candles stands outside the Shell gas station in Thousand Oaks Tuesday morning. It was the site of a protest Sunday in which a Jewish man was injured and fell during an altercation. The man, Paul Kessler, died Monday.