A prominent rabbi and educator has been jailed on $3 million bail after being charged with murder in connection with the death of a young man who was struck by a vehicle this week.
Abba Avrohom Bryski, 35, of Agoura Hills, faces felony murder charges over the death of 28-year-old Nicholas Lang outside a Costco warehouse in Camarillo, northwest of Los Angeles.
Emergency crews were called to a gas station on West Ventura Boulevard shortly after 8:30 p.m. on October 20. Authorities said a pedestrian had been hit by a vehicle near the fuel pumps.
Lang, who lived in Modesto, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses reportedly directed responding sheriff’s deputies to Bryski, who was allegedly found sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle parked nearby.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office has charged Bryski with felony murder, along with a deadly-weapon enhancement. He also faces a misdemeanor count of resisting, obstructing or delaying police or emergency personnel.
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Bryski remains in custody on $3 million bail and is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Ventura Superior Court on October 26.
Detectives with the sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau have not released details about what happened immediately before the fatal collision. Authorities have also yet to confirm Lang’s employment status or explain why he was at the site.
Jail records identify Bryski as a rabbi and educator. He is the son of Rabbi Moshe Bryski, leader of the Chabad of the Conejo centre. However, the wider Chabad-Lubavitch organisation has disputed that the younger Bryski held any official position within the movement.
The deadly incident happened at a newly built retail warehouse due to open on October 30. Its adjoining gas station has been operating since May.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau.
