
An elderly Jewish man attending a pro-Israel rally in California has died after a "physical altercation" with a pro-Palestinian protester, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department announced on Monday evening.
Deputies responded to reports of a battery at a demonstration on West Lake and Thousand Oaks Boulevards after a verbal altercation broke out between 69-year-old Paul Kessler and an unnamed protester on Sunday afternoon, per a department press release.
"Witness accounts indicated that Kessler was involved in a physical altercation with [pro-Palestinian] counter protesters," the release continued. "During the altercation, Kessler fell backwards and struck his head on the ground."
The department said it is continuing to investigate the incident and the "possibility of a hate crime" has not been ruled out.