Prosecutor Richard Simon said customers and a restaurant employee followed Jackson out of the restaurant, even though he still had the knife. They kept track of him until Ventura police arrived and arrested him. ||||| CLOSE Anthony Mele Sr., talks about his son, 35-year-old Anthony Mele Jr., who was fatally stabbed as his daughter sat in his lap in a Ventura restaurant. 
 
 Anthony Mele Jr., was fatally stabbed as he and his wife and their daughter were dining in a Ventura restaurant on Wednesday. (Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) 
 
 The loved ones of a man fatally stabbed Wednesday night in Ventura remembered him as an honest man and gentle father who worked hard to provide for his family. 
 
 Anthony Mele Jr., 35, of Ventura, died after being stabbed in the neck while dining with his wife and daughter at the Aloha Steakhouse, 364 S. California St. 
 
 His daughter was sitting in his lap as he was stabbed, authorities said. She was not hurt. 
 
 A suspect in the case, Jamal Jackson, 49, who is listed as homeless, is in custody on suspicion of willful, deliberate, premeditated murder after police arrested him on the nearby beach, where witnesses chased him. His bail was set at more than $1 million. 
 
 More coverage of the fatal Ventura stabbing: 
 
 The oldest of four siblings, Mele came of age with his family in Oak View, an unincorporated community in the Ojai Valley. He grew up playing Little League baseball, where his father, Anthony Mele Sr., was a coach. A graduate of Nordhoff High School, Mele most recently worked as the branch manager of an AT&T Mobile store. 
 
 Family and friends described Mele as a quiet and reserved person who never did drugs or drank alcohol, with one of them saying, “It took everybody for shock what actually even happened to him because he’s the last person that you would expect for it to happen to.” 
 
 Mele’s sister Jamii recalled her brother as a kindhearted man who loved to draw comics in his free time. 
 
 “He was always smiling ... very kind and respectful,” she said. 
 
 Becky Snyder, another sister of the victim, last spoke with him the night before he was killed. 
 
 “I talked to him Tuesday night. We were playing on our phones,” Snyder said. “He’s always played video games, and I’d never played them. I suck, but I played a game with him all night.” 
 
 In mourning his son, Mele Sr. said he hopes his son’s death will lead to change in the way Ventura manages its homeless population. 
 
 “My main concern, as I’ve said before, is we need to help the homeless. We need to help the mentally ill. ... We need to feel free to walk upon the streets, to go out to dinner, and not be assaulted or stabbed or killed,” Mele Sr. said. 
 
 Along with his parents and siblings, Mele is survived by his wife, Hana, and 5-year-old daughter Willow. A GoFundMe page created to provide for the family and cover funeral expenses has raised more than $68,000 from more than 1,200 donors. 
 
 A funeral service for Mele is planned for Friday at the Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, 757 E. Main St. in Ventura. A reception will follow the service at Del Sol Park in Oxnard. 
 
 “The funeral’s on my birthday,” Snyder said. “This year, I’m spending it with him.” 
 
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– A man having dinner with his 5-year-old daughter on his lap was fatally stabbed in what appears to have been a random, unprovoked attack, police in California say. Homeless man Jamal Jackson, 49, was arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder after the attack on 35-year-old Anthony Mele at a seaside restaurant in Ventura, the Washington Post reports. Mele, who died after being taken off life support Thursday, was dining with his wife and daughter at the Aloha Steakhouse when Jackson walked up to the table and stabbed him in the neck, police say. The girl wasn't harmed. Jackson, a convicted felon, was arrested after customers and restaurant employees chased him to the beach. Police say a man later identified as Jackson was reported for yelling and being disruptive on the promenade near the restaurant about three hours before the attack, the Los Angeles Times reports. Officers were out on other calls, so command center staff monitored Jackson through security cameras for around 20 minutes before deciding he wasn't a threat, according to police. Jackson had at least six contacts with police earlier this year, including an arrest for fighting. Mele's father says he hopes his son's death will change how Ventura deals with its homeless population, the Ventura County Star reports. "We need to help the homeless. We need to help the mentally ill," he says. "We need to feel free to walk upon the streets, to go out to dinner, and not be assaulted or stabbed or killed."