A suspect has been arrested in the murder of Paul Kessler, an elderly Jewish man who was killed during an anti-Israel protest in Los Angeles on November 6, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office announced.

Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, was arrested yesterday (Wednesday) in Moorpark. He faces charges of involuntary manslaughter after striking Kessler, 69, on the head with a megaphone, leading to the older man's death. Authorities do not appear to be charging Alnaji with a hate crime.

Kessler fell to the ground, bleeding, and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead due to blunt force trauma. The Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office said that Kessler suffered from skull fractures and swelling and bruising of the brain and determined his death to be a homicide.

Jonathan Oswaks, a friend of Kessler and a witness to the incident, said that the two Jews were "stalked" by the man who would go on to assault Kessler.

Authorities had previously stated that a 50-year-old pro-Palestinian protestor had been identified as a suspect in the case, but no arrest was made for over a week after Kessler's death.

The case has attracted national attention as the first case in which a Jewish person has been killed in the US in the wake of the Hamas massacre of over 1,200 people in Israel on October 7. The Hamas massacre has inspired a wave of antisemitism, with antisemitic incidents rising as much as 400% following October 7, according to the Anti-Defamations League. Anti-Israel protests held following the massacre have included antisemitic and even genocidal rhetoric and chants and have devolved into violence multiple times.