A pro-Palestinian demonstrator takes the street during a massive rally in Los Angeles on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. Photo: Jacob Lee Green/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

The anti-Israel protester whom police questioned about his possible role in the death of an elderly Jewish man during a rally in a Los Angeles suburb on Sunday has been identified as community college professor Loay Alnaji, according to multiple reports.

The Daily Mail was the first to report the identity of Alnaji, 50, who teaches computer science at Ventura Community College in California. Then on Thursday, the New York Post reported that it identified Alnaji being questioned by police from footage taken after the altercation that left 69-year-old Paul Kessler on his back with a fractured skull and brain hemorrhaging, swelling, and bruising.

Kessler died the next day at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California, succumbing to injuries caused by “blunt force head trauma,” Ventura County medical examiner Dr. Christopher Young confirmed.

The incident occurred at dueling demonstrations held over the Israel-Hamas war. During an altercation with someone whom police described as a “pro-Palestine” protester, Kessler, who had been waving an Israeli flag, fell backward and hit his head on the ground.

StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit that tracks antisemitic incidents around the world, reported that Alnaji has shared pro-Hamas content on social media, including a video in which activist Shahid King Bolsen, who in 2006 was convicted of killing a German engineer in Dubai, said the Palestinian terrorist group will be remembered as civil rights heroes.

Alnaji has also reportedly posted on his Facebook and YouTube pages statements that said “O Allah, release the captivity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” and “Oh, God, give victory to your weak servants in Palestine, and everywhere.”

Authorities have ruled Kessler’s “manner of death” a homicide. However, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said on Tuesday during a press conference that there is insufficient evidence to begin criminal proceedings, citing both a lack of video documentation of the altercation that caused Kessler’s fall and conflicting reports made by pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters about how he wound up on the floor bleeding from his head and mouth.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating Kessler’s death, has declined to confirm that Alnaji is their suspect, saying only that a 50-year-old suspect was briefly detained during a traffic stop while a search of his home in Moorpark — a city in Ventura County — was conducted with a warrant on Monday morning. The sheriff has also declined to disclose any police findings from the search or to provide additional information about the suspect’s background.

As of this writing, no one has been arrested or charged in the case. According to the Daily Mail, Alnaji was the man whose home was searched.

On Thursday, a public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office told The Algemeiner that it will not release the name of its suspect because the investigation of Kessler’s death is ongoing.

“The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office continues to work diligently on this case, but we do not want to compromise the integrity of the investigation by releasing incomplete or inaccurate information,” the officer said. “We understand that many people are concerned about this case and are eager for updates. We want to assure you that we are doing everything in our power to find answers and bring justice to those affected by this tragedy.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has said that an anti-Israel protester struck Kessler in the head with a megaphone during Sunday’s confrontation.

During Tuesday’s press conference, Young said that Kessler did have injuries to his face. The medical examiner and the police declined to comment on how they were caused and what immediately preceded Kessler hitting his head on the ground.

“An autopsy was performed on the morning of November 6. The autopsy demonstrated non-lethal injuries to the left side of Mr. Kessler’s face,” Young said.

He added that Kessler’s cause of death was “blunt force head trauma” and that “the manner of death is homicide.” However, the medical examiner explained that the designation of homicide in this case does not indicate that a crime has necessarily been committed, but rather that the death resulted from or was contributed to by the actions of another person.

When Young was asked while taking questions from reporters how Kessler’s face was injured, Fryhoff intervened and said, “It’s my contention that we still don’t know that. My contention is that 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.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.