Jewish man dies after being hit on the head during confrontation with anti-Israel protesters
California police have not yet ruled out a hate crime in the death of a Jewish man who was killed during an Israel protest.
California police have identified and searched the home of a pro-Palestinian counter-protester as their prime suspect in the death of Jewish Paul Kessler. No arrests have been made, however, as conflicting witness accounts complicate authorities' investigation.
Kessler died hours after hitting his head on the pavement during the altercation with the unnamed suspect at competing street corner rallies on Sunday, police said. Now, Ventura County Sheriff's deputies are trying to piece together what led the 69-year-old to fall.
The father-of-two was pronounced dead at Los Robles hospital at 1:10 a.m. on Monday. Initially, per witness footage reviewed by Fox News Digital, the 69-year old was bloodied but alert and speaking at the scene. An autopsy determined Kessler's cause of death to be blunt force head trauma, and the manner of death homicide, Chief Medical Examiner Christopher Young said at the conference.
However, Young carefully noted, "the manner of death is not a medical legal determination." Non-lethal injuries were noted on the left side of Kessler's face, while internal injuries included skull fractures, swelling and bruising to the brain.
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Paul Kessler, 69, (pictured) was killed after an altercation broke out with an unnamed pro-Palestinian protester in Ventura County, California, on Sunday. (Provided to Fox News Digital)
"There was clearly an interaction between the two, but what that level of interaction is, is still unclear," Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff said of the investigation.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime in Kessler's death.
Police said they have obtained ample footage capturing the moments preceding and following the altercation between Kessler and the 50-year-old suspect, a resident of Moorpark with the area "Freedom for Palestine" group - but are urging the public for any footage that shows the moment blows were thrown.
"We're still waiting to see evidence of what occurred in that interaction and whether or not there was a blow to the face that caused the fall, or if Mr. Kessler fell, without that being the precipitating event," Fryhoff said.
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The suspect in Kessler's homicide was among "multiple" people who dialed 911 at the scene and was reportedly cooperative and answered police's questions.
Different witness accounts "conflict[ed] with each other" at the scene, Fryhoff said, with several witnesses disagreeing on "who the aggressor was."
"Some of those witnesses were pro-Palestine, while others were pro-Israel," Fryhoff said.
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Paul Kessler, 69, was a father and grandfather living in Westlake, friends told Fox News Digital (Provided to Fox News Digital)
Kessler was among around 100 people attending the diametric protests, the sheriff said.
A witness who asked not to be named told Fox News Digital that Kessler had attended all three of the group's protests over the past three weeks and had gotten into at least one verbal altercation at the previous week's rally.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the 50-year-old suspect and pulled him over in Simi Valley around 4:58 p.m. on Monday, police said. The suspect was detained while police searched his residence and vehicle until about 6:15 p.m., Fryhoff said.
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Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoof is pictured with Chief Medical Examiner Christopher Young at a Tuesday press conference surrounding the death of protester Paul Kessler, 69. (Ventura County Sheriff's Department)
Police did not comment on their findings, or whether their suspect had a prior criminal record. The Ventura County District Attorney's Office would not comment on or share the probable cause affidavit for the warrant.
"We're conducting a thorough investigation," the sheriff said. "We want to make sure we have all the evidence that we need to if we're going to prosecute a suspect."
"Right now, he's the only one that we have information on that may have been involved in an interaction with our victim - that does not mean there's not others."
A woman weeps at a memorial set up by a gas station in Ventura County, California for Paul Kessler, Tuesday, November 7, 2023. The 69-year-old died yesterday after an alleged altercation with pro-Palestinian protestor on Sunday. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
Fryhoff said that social media postings from either camp preceding the protest indicated that the event would be "peaceful," but that cruisers were driving by the area to intermittently surveil.
Since Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, Fryhoff said, there have been 21 protests in Ventura County but this is the only incident with any kind of violent encounter.
Supporters participating in a pro-Israel rally in Ventura County, California, were met by pro-Palestinian counter protesters on Sunday. (Provided to Fox News Digital)
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On Tuesday morning, a memorial had been set up outside the Shell gas station in Westlake where Kessler sustained his fatal injury.
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