Hate crime probe opened after two killed outside Tucson gay bar by suspect with a list of LGBTQ businesses, police say

Two Men Killed Outside Tucson Gay Bar in Shooting Linked to List of LGBTQ Businesses

Goldlaner.com – A quiet Monday morning near downtown Tucson turned into a scene of grief and shock when two men were fatally shot in the parking lot of Venture-N, a long-standing gay bar that has served as a gathering point for the city’s LGBTQ community for decades. Tucson police confirmed that the suspect, a 44-year-old man named Ousman Ceesay, carried a written list naming several LGBTQ-associated businesses in the area. Ceesay himself sustained injuries during the confrontation and later died at a local hospital. Authorities have opened a formal hate crime investigation into the killings.

The Shooting and Its Immediate Aftermath

The victims were identified as Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, and Cameron Davis Capara, 33. According to police, Ceesay approached the two men in the Venture-N parking lot before opening fire. Both were killed. The suspect was also wounded and transported to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Jose Ortega, the property owner of Venture-N, was traveling in Mexico when word reached him of the incident. He said his acting manager phoned around 1 a.m. on Monday to report that something had happened outside in the lot and that one of the victims had stumbled through the front door bleeding, telling staff he had been shot.

“It was terrible, we didn’t know what to say,” Ortega recalled.

Ortega flew back to Tucson as quickly as possible, reuniting with his business partner David Wallis, who holds ownership of the bar. He described the two men as regular patrons who came to Venture-N fairly often. No one connected with the bar had ever seen or heard of the shooter before that morning.

“This really has to be kind of an outlier. It has to be just something strange that happened,” Ortega said. “Unfortunately, we’re the ones that were affected this time.”

A Community Gathers in Grief

Within hours of the shooting, neighbors and longtime members of Tucson’s LGBTQ community began placing candles and flowers along the sidewalk outside Venture-N, creating an impromptu memorial. For many in the area, the bar is more than a venue — it is a rare remaining anchor of a social life that has been steadily eroded by development, rising rents, and the closure of other LGBTQ-specific establishments across the Southwest.

Scott Blades, a member of the local LGBTQ community, described the loss as devastating and called Venture-N a vital space where people have always felt safe to gather.

“It’s just heartbreaking. Such a senseless, tragic shooting,” Blades said. “This is a real important community gathering spot, and it’s always been a safe place for people to come.”

Colette Barajas, a real-estate broker and owner of Centra Realty, has been an active participant in the LGBTQ community for years. She keeps a rainbow flag displayed outside both her office and her home. Speaking to local media, she voiced the anxiety many in the neighborhood felt in the aftermath.

“I’m nervous, you know, I’ve got my flag out there,” Barajas said.

Blades added that the community would continue to find ways to build togetherness and protect one another.

“We’ll keep finding ways to create that community and find ways to create safety for ourselves and for each other. That’s all we can do,” he said.

Police Response and the Hate Crime Inquiry

Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto announced that the department had increased its visible presence around gay establishments in the wake of the shooting. In a public statement, Prieto expressed deep sorrow over what she called another senseless loss of life and emphasized that bias-motivated crimes carry a particular weight.

“I am deeply saddened that another senseless loss of life has happened in our community. Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community,” Prieto said.

Prieto also noted that, as of the time of her statement, there was no indication of an ongoing threat to the general public. The investigation into the motive, the list found on Ceesay, and the circumstances surrounding the confrontation remained ongoing.

City and County Leaders Speak in Solidarity

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero posted a video message on her Facebook page, framing the tragedy as a painful reminder that homophobia persists in American life.

“This tragedy serves as yet another painful reminder that homophobia is still rampant in our country,” Romero said. “No one should fear being targeted simply because of who they are and where they gather.”

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover issued a written statement expressing solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and reaffirming the county’s commitment to pursuing justice in bias-motivated cases.

“I speak in solidarity with our LGBTQ+ community,” Conover said.

The Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation announced plans to hold a commemorative event on Wednesday to honor Siqueiros and Capara, offering residents a structured space for mourning and mutual support.

What Venture-N Means to Tucson

Ortega described Venture-N as one of the very few gay bars still operating in the city, a place with a deep bench of regulars who have built friendships and routines around its counter stools and back rooms over many years.

“It’s a gay bar, but a neighborhood bar,” Ortega said.

He stressed that Tucson is, by his account, a city where people generally get along, and that the shooting represented a rupture in that social fabric rather than a symptom of wider tension.

“There’s no way to express sorrow and sympathy in a proper way,” Ortega added.

For now, the investigation continues, the candles outside the bar have been replaced by fresh ones each evening, and the question hanging over the neighborhood is simple: how does a community rebuild the sense of safety that a single act of violence can shatter in an instant?