(LOS ANGELES) — A 69-year-old Jewish man died after a blunt-force head injury following an altercation at an Israel-Hamas war protest in California, Ventura County officials and local organizations said Monday.
The death followed a confrontation with a counter-protester as simultaneous pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrations were held at the same location over the weekend, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office said it determined Paul Kessler’s death was a homicide. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility the incident was a hate crime, officials said Monday. Kessler was Jewish, according to two faith-based organizations in Los Angeles.
On Sunday afternoon in Thousand Oaks, California, multiple people called the Ventura County Sheriff’s Communication Center to report an incident of battery at the corner of Westlake Boulevard and Thousand Oaks Boulevard, authorities said. The intersection was where pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrations were taking place.
Authorities arriving on the scene located Kessler and noted he was suffering from a head injury, the sheriff’s office said.
Witnesses told deputies that Kessler was involved in a physical altercation with a counter-protester or protesters, officials said Monday night. Kessler fell backward during the altercation, authorities said, hitting his head on the ground.
He was transported to a local hospital for what authorities said was “advanced medical treatment,” but he died from his injuries Monday, officials said.
The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles said in a Monday statement that it was “devastated to learn of the tragic death of an elderly Jewish man.”
“Violence against our people has no place in civilized society. We demand safety. We will not tolerate violence against our community. We will do everything in our power to prevent it,” the federation said.
Executive Director Hussam Ayloush of the Greater LA office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also issued a statement following the news of the man’s death.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic and shocking loss. We join local Jewish leaders in calling on all individuals to refrain from jumping to conclusions, sensationalizing such a tragedy for political gains, or spreading rumors that could unnecessarily escalate tensions that are already at an all-time high,” he said.
The public should wait until the sheriff’s office completes its investigation before “drawing any conclusions,” he said.
“While we strongly support the right of political debate, CAIR-LA and the Muslim community stand with the Jewish community in rejecting any and all violence, antisemitism, Islamophobia, or incitement of hatred,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — In a tense New York courtroom that saw emotions run high, a defiant Donald Trump testified for roughly four hours Monday in the New York attorney general’s $250 million civil fraud case, which accuses the former president, his sons and his namesake company of improperly inflating assets in order to secure favorable loan terms.
At times Trump punctuated his responses with sudden outbursts targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James, whom he called a “political hack,” and the trial judge overseeing the case, Judge Arthur Engoron, who shouted in exasperation during several exchanges.
Regarding Trump’s statements of financial condition, the documents at the center of the case that the New York AG alleges contained fraudulent valuations, Trump testified that he had a role in crafting the documents but said he mostly tasked their preparation to then-Trump Organization executives Jeffrey McConney and Allen Weisselberg, and that they were vetted by accountants.
The state will call its last witness, Ivanka Trump, on Wednesday, after which the defense is scheduled to present its case over the next four weeks.
Here are five takeaways from Trump’s testimony on Monday:
Trump aired his grievances with the judge and others
“Political hack.” “Election interference.” “Trump-haters.” Those are common refrains on Trump’s social media channels — but never before had they been heard in court.
Until now.
The former president grew animated at times as he laid into the Judge Engoron and state attorneys who brought the case, often motioning with his hands as he aired his grievances.
“Everyone is trying to figure out why you’re doing this. I understand it — it’s called politics,” Trump said at one point.
Later, he went further.
“I think this case is a disgrace,” Trump said. “It’s election interference because you want to keep me in this courthouse all day long.”
Engoron threatened Trump to try to keep him focused
Early in his testimony, as Trump interspersed his answers with political interjections, Judge Engoron grew more agitated.
“You and every other Democratic district attorney, AG, U.S. Attorney were coming after me from 15 different sides. All Democrats, all Trump haters,” Trump said, unprompted, at one point.
Engoron repeatedly and sternly instructed Trump to avoid lengthy “narrative” responses, regularly interrupting Trump’s testimony to strike certain comments and keep the questions moving along.
The judge directed most of his frustration toward Trump attorney Chris Kise, and at one point threatened to excuse Trump from the stand and “draw every negative inference I can.”
“Mr. Kise, can you control your client? This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom,” Engoron said. “I beseech you to control him, if you can. If you can’t, I will.”
When Trump attorney Alina Habba attempted to push back, Engoron shouted, “Sit down already! Sit down.”
After a moment’s pause, Trump weighed in.
“This is a very unfair trial,” he said. “I hope the public is watching.”
Trump acknowledged undervaluing two properties
As the volatility of the morning gave way to a more measured back-and-forth, Trump acknowledged that he overvalued at least two properties in his statements of financial condition, though he broadly represented that the statements underestimated his total net worth.
“Did you ever think that the values were off in your statement of financial condition?” state attorney Kevin Wallace asked about the document at the center of the case.
“Yes, on occasion. Both high and low,” Trump said.
Regarding his penthouse apartment in Manhattan’s Trump Tower, he said, “I thought the apartment was overvalued when I looked at it,” appearing to refer to a $200 million correction applied to his statement after Forbes magazine reported that he falsely stated the apartment was three times its actual size.
Asked about the change in the statement, Trump acknowledged the square footage mistake, which he blamed on a broker, while also claiming that the number was “not far off” from reality when you consider the square footage of Trump Tower’s roof.
“It’s a mistake … [but] there’s a disclaimer clause so you don’t have to get sued by the attorney general of New York,” Trump said.
Trump made a similar admission about the $291 million valuation of his Seven Springs property in New York’s Westchester County.
“I thought it was too high and we lowered it,” Trump said, though he could not provide specifics about the changed valuation.
Trump stood by his statements but said others mostly prepared them
Although Trump said he had a role in crafting his statements of financial condition, he said he largely tasked their preparation to then-Trump Organization executives Jeffrey McConney and Allen Weisselberg.
The pair worked with lawyers and a “very highly paid accounting firm” to compile the statements, Trump testified.
“All I did was authorize for people to give what was necessary so they could do the statement,” he said.
“The bank would check the work that these people did,” Trump said later. “I have people. I pay them a lot of money. They’re accountants. I assume they keep good records.”
Trump didn’t rule out changes following the trial
At the end of the day, as Trump’s testimony was winding down, Wallace asked Trump about what he might have learned as a result of the court case.
“Do you think anything needs to change at the Trump Organization because of what you learned from this lawsuit?” the state attorney asked.
“I don’t think so,” Trump said — but suggested that he would defer to his new accounting firm.
“We will see if anything will come of it,” the former president said.
(NEW YORK) — An Arizona man was arrested and hit with federal charges over the weekend for allegedly threatening to execute a Scottsdale rabbi and “every other JEW” he could find, the Justice Department announced Monday.
Jeffrey Mindock, a 47-year-old Tempe resident, allegedly sent an email last Friday morning to the rabbi asking him to convince a judge in Utah to drop charges against him in a separate case there.
“If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other JEW [sic] I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath,” Mindock allegedly wrote. “If you wish to communicate with me further, I will only meet in person.”
The subject of the email read: “HITLER WAS RIGHT RABBI,” according to the criminal complaint, and referenced the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
“As I have watched the atrocities unfolding in Palestine, I have come to the realization that YOU people are to blame for everything evil in this world,” Mindock allegedly wrote. “Zionist Jews control everything from the courts to the banks to the media. We both know that you are in control.”
Prosecutors say Mindock has a history of threatening behavior, alleging he sent an email previously to a judge that threatened to “hang” them and that in a prior court appearance, he threatened to “execute” people in 2021, saying he knew “how to make bombs.”
He further stated at that time, he was a sovereign citizen and that Ted Kaczynski was “his hero,” prosecutors say.
Mindock made his initial appearance Monday morning and was appointed a public defender. He has not entered a plea and is being held prior to a detention hearing at a yet-to-be-determined date. ABC News has reached out to the public defender in the case.
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) — A San Jose, California police officer has resigned after the police department found numerous “disgusting text messages that demonstrated racial bias,” according to a statement by the San Jose Police Department (SJPD). The text messages related to a 2022 shooting incident in which the officer shot a college football player who had wrestled a gun from a perpetrator during a fight in a local taqueria.
In the statement released on Friday, the SJPD identified Mark McNamara as the officer, saying the department found the messages during an unrelated criminal investigation into one of their officers.
“There is zero tolerance for even a single expression of racial bias at the San Jose Police Department,” San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said in the statement.
Chief Mata added that the investigation “also determined that a current employee who was on the receiving end of some of the messages engaged in other concerning dialogue with the former officer.”
The other employee, who has not been identified by the SJPD, was immediately placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation, according to the statement.
In March 2022, then 20-year-old K’aun Green, who is Black, was at a taqueria in San Jose when a fight ensued. One of the perpetrators pulled out a gun which Green wrestled out of his hands. He was then shot four times by McNamara, who was responding to the scene, as Green was backing out the door of the taqueria.
In one message sent in the aftermath of the shooting, McNamara, who is white, said he was “just out here clappin fools,” a term Green’s lawyer, civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer, said is a slang term for “shooting gangsters.”
“I’m still processing,” Green, now 22, said on Sunday during a press conference, speaking publicly for the first time since the text messages were released. “I never thought somebody could just have that much hatred in their heart to where they would want to kill me just ‘cause of what I look like.”
Following the shooting, Green filed a federal lawsuit against McNamara, SJPD and the City of San Jose for excessive force and the city’s related liability in the incident.
In another message sent by McNamara after he was deposed by Green’s legal team, he said “I hate Black people.” In the 10-page document released by the SJPD containing McNamara’s text messages, he frequently used racial slurs when referring to Green and his legal team.
Green, who was a college football player at Contra Costa College and still dreams of a career in the NFL, said during the press conference he had to sit out the entire 2022 football season and has been suffering from depression since the shooting.
“Honestly, that was probably the worst time of my life,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever run, jump or anything the same way. I used to be able to dunk a basketball, I can barely jump off my left leg now. Everything pretty much hurts, but just because I don’t want to go through any more depression or just be so down on myself, I just forced myself to play.”
“I think about it every day. Where I could be, where I would have been if it’d never happened,” Green told ABC News when asked about the shooting. “There’s never a night where I could just sleep peacefully.”
Green and his legal team are asking for accountability following the release of the messages.
“Officer McNamara should be being criminally prosecuted for shooting K’aun Green. He should be led into court in handcuffs facing an attempted murder charge,” Pointer said. “The United States Attorney’s Office should also be looking into this unlawful, unwarranted, unjustified and apparently premeditated attempted murder and looking at this as a hate crime for what officer McNamara attempted to do and did do to Mr. Green.”
Pointer also said they demanded the San Jose Police Department and the City of San Jose release all the text messages related to McNamara.
“We believe there is more there,” he said.
The San Jose Police Officers Association confirmed to ABC News that McNamara had resigned after six years with the SJPD.
“The recent announcement of racist text messages by a former police officer is a disconcerting reminder that not everyone has the moral compass necessary to be in the law enforcement profession,” Steve Slack, president of the San Jose Police Officers Association, said in a statement. “This behavior is beyond unacceptable, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
The trial in the federal lawsuit against McNamara, SJPD and the City of San Jose is expected to start in Spring 2024.
Mark McNamara and the San Jose Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
(NEW YORK) — New legislation unveiled Monday would increase the list of hate crime-eligible charges in New York state from 66 to 97.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who proposed the Hate Crimes Modernization Act along with several elected officials and community leaders, said it would enhance criminal charges and certain sentences.
A record high of 650 hate crimes were reported in New York City last year, and the new measure comes amid a recent surge in hate crimes linked to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
As hate crimes rise, the nature of the incidents has increasingly varied, which Bragg said means the penal code creates loopholes that prevent prosecutors from appropriately charging and ensuring accountability for people who commit offenses motivated by bias and prejudice.
The new legislation would update hate crimes law in New York that currently exclude charges like gang assault, making graffiti, sex trafficking, labor trafficking, false reporting, criminal possession of a weapon and certain sex crimes.
“Every time a hate crime goes unrecognized, its victims are denied justice, and hate is further normalized and allowed to spread,” New York Assemblymember Grace Lee said in a statement. “We understand that there is no single solution to eliminating hate; this is a complex issue that requires a diversified and holistic approach. This bill is one necessary step to help address hate and hold those who commit hate crimes accountable.”
(AURORA, Colo.) — The jury has acquitted Nathan Woodyard on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the second trial concerning the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain following an altercation with Aurora, Colorado, police.
Woodyard was the first police officer on the scene in August 2019 and put McClain in a carotid hold. He has pleaded not guilty .
In closing arguments, the prosecution argued the carotid hold that Woodyard placed McClain in had contributed to McClain’s death. The prosecution also argued that if Woodyard had followed what he was taught in training, he would have known how to respond to McClain’s pleas for help.
McClain told officers during their encounter that he was having trouble breathing, and he later choked on his vomit while he was restrained, the previous trial revealed.
“This trial is about the defendant and his teammates doing nothing to help Elijah McClain. This trial is about their continued callousness and indifference to Mr. McClain’s suffering,” Assistant Attorney General Ann Joyce said during opening arguments.
The defense argued the ketamine administered by the EMTs that night was responsible for McClain’s death.
“The evidence cannot leave the real possibility that Nathan did not know that the paramedics would come in and overdose,” defense attorney Andrew Ho said.
McClain was stopped by police on his way home from a convenience store on Aug. 24, 2019. A passerby called 911 to report McClain as acting “sketchy” with a ski mask on; however, the caller said there was no weapon and that no one was in danger at the time.
McClain was wearing a ski mask at the time because, according to his family, he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily.
When officers arrived on the scene, they told McClain they had a right to stop him because he was “being suspicious.”
In police body camera footage, McClain can be heard telling police he was going home, and that “I have a right to go where I am going.”
Woodyard placed McClain in a carotid hold and he and the other two officers on the scene moved McClain by force to the grass and restrained him.
McClain can be heard pleading with officers in police body camera footage, saying he can’t breathe correctly.
“I’m so sorry. I have no gun, I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do fighting. Why are you taking me?” McClain can be heard saying in body camera footage.
“I can’t breathe,” McClain said, according to the body camera footage. He echoed these words several times.
When EMTs arrived at the scene, McClain was given a shot of 500 milligrams of ketamine for “rapid tranquilization in order to minimize time struggling,” according to department policy, and was loaded into an ambulance where he had a heart attack, according to investigators.
McClain was declared brain-dead days later and died on Aug. 30, 2019.
McClain’s cause of death, which was previously listed as “undetermined,” was listed in an amended autopsy report as “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.” The manner of death remained listed as “undetermined” as it was in the initial report.
Woodyard’s employment by the police force is subject to a city charter pending the outcome of his trial.
In the first trial in connection with McClain’s death, officer Randy Roedema was found guilty on Oct. 12 of criminally negligent homicide and assault in the third degree. He will be sentenced in January and could face up to five years in prison and be fined more than $100,000. His employment with the police force was terminated following his conviction last month.
Another officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was found not guilty on charges of reckless manslaughter, assault in the second degree and criminally negligent homicide. His employment with the police force was terminated in 2020.
ABC News’ Aisha Frazier contributed to this report.
(AURORA, Colo.) — The jury has reached a decision in the second trial in connection with the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain following an altercation with Aurora, Colorado, police.
Nathan Woodyard was the first police officer on the scene in August 2019 and put McClain in a carotid hold. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
In closing arguments, the prosecution argued the carotid hold that Woodyard placed McClain in had contributed to McClain’s death. The prosecution also argued that if Woodyard had followed what he was taught in training, he would have known how to respond to McClain’s pleas for help.
McClain told officers during their encounter that he was having trouble breathing, and he later choked on his vomit while he was restrained, the previous trial revealed.
“This trial is about the defendant and his teammates doing nothing to help Elijah McClain. This trial is about their continued callousness and indifference to Mr. McClain’s suffering,” Assistant Attorney General Ann Joyce said during opening arguments.
The defense argued the ketamine administered by the EMTs that night was responsible for McClain’s death.
“The evidence cannot leave the real possibility that Nathan did not know that the paramedics would come in and overdose,” defense attorney Andrew Ho said.
McClain was stopped by police on his way home from a convenience store on Aug. 24, 2019. A passerby called 911 to report McClain as acting “sketchy” with a ski mask on; however, the caller said there was no weapon and that no one was in danger at the time.
McClain was wearing a ski mask at the time because, according to his family, he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily.
When officers arrived on the scene, they told McClain they had a right to stop him because he was “being suspicious.”
In police body camera footage, McClain can be heard telling police he was going home, and that “I have a right to go where I am going.”
Woodyard placed McClain in a carotid hold and he and the other two officers on the scene moved McClain by force to the grass and restrained him.
McClain can be heard pleading with officers in police body camera footage, saying he can’t breathe correctly.
“I’m so sorry. I have no gun, I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do fighting. Why are you taking me?” McClain can be heard saying in body camera footage.
“I can’t breathe,” McClain said, according to the body camera footage. He echoed these words several times.
When EMTs arrived at the scene, McClain was given a shot of 500 milligrams of ketamine for “rapid tranquilization in order to minimize time struggling,” according to department policy, and was loaded into an ambulance where he had a heart attack, according to investigators.
McClain was declared brain-dead days later and died on Aug. 30, 2019.
McClain’s cause of death, which was previously listed as “undetermined,” was listed in an amended autopsy report as “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.” The manner of death remained listed as “undetermined” as it was in the initial report.
Woodyard’s employment by the police force is subject to a city charter pending the outcome of his trial.
In the first trial in connection with McClain’s death, officer Randy Roedema was found guilty on Oct. 12 of criminally negligent homicide and assault in the third degree. He will be sentenced in January and could face up to five years in prison and be fined more than $100,000. His employment with the police force was terminated following his conviction last month.
Another officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was found not guilty on charges of reckless manslaughter, assault in the second degree and criminally negligent homicide. His employment with the police force was terminated in 2020.
ABC News’ Aisha Frazier contributed to this report.
(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) — A woman who believed she was crashing her car into a Jewish school has been arrested by police in Indiana.
Ruba Almaghtheh, 34, allegedly crashed her car into the Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge in Indianapolis on Friday, mistakenly thinking it was a pro-Jewish organization, police said. Nobody was injured.
The Anti-Defamation League said that the Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge is in fact an extremist organization that is anti-Israel. The Southern Poverty Law Center has also designated the organization a hate group.
Almaghtheh allegedly told an officer at the time of her arrest that she had been watching the news and “couldn’t breathe anymore,” and “referenced her people back in Palestine,” according to a statement provided to ABC News by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD).
Since Hamas launched its surprise terror attack on Israel, at least 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, according to Israeli officials. And more than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Almaghtheh further stated that she had “passed by a couple times and saw the ‘Israel school’,” police said, and also told police, “Yes. I did it on purpose.”
Almaghtheh was arrested for criminal recklessness. The IMPD said they informed the FBI about the arrest, and the FBI said they are aware and working with the police department.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Last month. citing a rising number of domestic hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs and Jews, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning that the intensification of Israeli airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza would keep the United States on a “heightened threat environment in the near-to-medium term.”
Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Senate panel that while Jewish people make up 2.4% of the United States population, they are the targets of nearly 60% of all religious-based hate crimes.
(WASHINGTON) — Capitol Police say two men cashed a stolen car into a barricade outside the Capitol, and led officers on a foot chase before they were arrested Sunday. Police recovered two handguns during their arrest — one of which was modified to turn the weapon into a machine gun.
Police say on Sunday afternoon, Ricardo Glass and Onosetale Okojie, both 20 years old, were in a stolen white Infiniti Q50 idling at a green light by Union Station — the shopping and transit hub just a few blocks from the Capitol building. Suspecting the driver could be impaired, an officer attempted to make a traffic stop, but the driver sped away, crashing into a Capitol vehicle barricade near 1st and D streets in Northeast D.C.
The two men got out of the car and ran away from the crash, which happened to be near the Capitol Police headquarters. Police chased them on foot and both were captured in the neighborhood.
In the car, police found a Glock handgun with a 22-round extended magazine. Hidden in a nearby flowerbed was a Glock with a “giggle switch,” which can turn it into a machine gun, police said.
Both are facing several charges including carrying a pistol without a license, unauthorized use of a vehicle and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
Capitol Police said they have confiscated more than 30 guns so far this year.
ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A 64-year-old food deliveryman was fighting for his life Monday after being shot multiple times by an assailant who ambushed him outside a Philadelphia home and stole his vehicle, according to police.
The gunman in Sunday evening’s shooting in a north Philadelphia neighborhood remained unidentified and on the run Monday, police said.
The shooting unfolded around 6 p.m. when the deliveryman, whose name was not released, dropped off a takeout order at a home in the city’s Port Richmond section, police said.
The victim was walking back to his Jeep when he was approached from behind and shot five or six times, according to police and neighbors. The assailant fled in the victim’s car.
Port Richmond resident Phillis Kelly told ABC station WPVI in Philadelphia that the deliveryman was shot after bringing food to her home from a local restaurant.
“It happened so quick. It’s like, why did this happen?” Kelly said.
Kelly said the shooting erupted shortly after she went back into her home.
“[I’m] in shock and anger. Maybe if I would have stayed there another minute, maybe they would have went away. Maybe the driver would have been OK,” Kelly said.
Neighbor James Thompson, who lives across the street from Kelly, said the deliveryman’s Jeep was parked next to his house and that he was startled by the gunshots that rang out.
“We heard five or six, what sounded to be gunshots,” Thompson told WPVI. “I came out to look and saw a guy lying on the pavement and I grabbed my phone and called 911.”
The victim was shot in the chest, back and torso, according to police. He was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, police said.
The shooting left Port Richmond residents like Thompson shocked and worried that the shooter is still on the loose.
“I have a concern in general but that’s the environment we live in right now,” Thompson said. “I have to figure out how to protect myself and my family as best as I can.”
Another Port Richmond resident, who would only give her name as Ana S., said it was heartbreaking that an “innocent life” was jeopardized for just trying to earn a living.
“It’s just sad. All the violence, all the guns. It’s just sad it’s going on,” she said.
The shooting came as Philadelphia is seeing significant drops in homicides and non-fatal shootings this year compared to 2022, when the city recorded 516 homicides. As of Sunday, Philadelphia police have investigated 360 homicides, a 20% decline from the same period last year, according to the police department’s crime statistics.
Non-fatal shootings in Philadelphia are down about 35% from this time last year, according to the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting. As of Sunday, Philadelphia has seen 1,161 non-fatal shooting victims, including 22 in the first week of November, according to the center.
