Reuters/Mike Blake
California cops said Tuesday that witnesses have given conflicting accounts of what preceded the death of a pro-Israel protester on Monday afternoon, leading them to detain and release a suspect who was in an altercation with 69-year-old Paul Kessler before he fell and hit his head.
The fatal encounter occurred in Thousand Oaks, California, where dueling protests with supporters of Palestine and Israel took a violent turn.
What exactly occurred is murky, according to the Ventura County Sheriff James “Jim” Fryhoff. He indicated Tuesday that witnesses from the different protests have given conflicting accounts about who was the incident’s initial aggressor.