Friends and family came together this week to grieve the death of Paul Kessler, a Jewish man who died on Nov. 6, the day after an altercation at dueling pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests in Thousand Oaks, California.
Loay Alnaji, a 50-year-old computer science teacher at Moorpark College in the Ventura County Community College District, was first identified by the Daily Mail on Nov. 8 as the suspect who allegedly hit Mr. Kessler in the face with a megaphone at the Nov. 5 rally, causing him to suffer a fatal fall.
Thousand Oaks resident Jonathan Oswaks, who was with Mr. Kessler at the protest supporting Israel, confirmed to The Epoch Times that Mr. Alnaji is the man in question.
Mr. Oswaks said he had only met Mr. Kessler, 69, also of Thousand Oaks, the weekend before at the same intersection where the pro-Palestinian group had rallied multiple times since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists.
Although they had just met, they shared some deep conversations, Mr. Oswaks said.
“He was passionate,” Mr. Oswaks told The Epoch Times. “He was committed. He was a man that was not very large in stature, but he had the heart of a lion. He was not afraid to stand his ground.”
The two men felt compelled to stand up for Israel in their community—a quiet suburb about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles—after pro-Palestinian supporters staged protests at the busy intersection.
Mr. Kessler was the only person who responded to a social media post by Mr. Oswaks who called out to the Jewish community to counter-protest at the pro-Palestinian rally.
They met Oct. 29 for the first time near the protesters and were threatened with a gun, according to Mr. Oswaks.
As they walked through the crowd, a man began following them and flashed a gun from beneath his shirt, according to Mr. Oswaks. The man wore a black hoodie, a green vest, and a black-and-white checkered scarf covering most of his face.
“He pulled up his shirt and he showed me his gun,” Mr. Oswaks said. “At that point, the police were called.”
Mr. Oswaks and Mr. Kessler left after police were unable to find the perpetrator, but decided to come back the next weekend.
