A gunman killed two men outside a Tucson gay bar before fatally shooting himself in what police say was a targeted attack motivated by anti-LGBTQ hate.
According to Tucson police, officers were dispatched to Venture-N, a gay bar on Sixth Avenue, around 12:30 a.m. on August 31. They found three men with gunshot wounds in the bar’s parking lot, including 44-year-old Ousman Ceesay, who police say had confronted and shot the other two men before shooting himself.
Ceesay was transported to a local hospital, where he later died. The other two men, 42-year-old Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and 33-year-old Cameron Davis Capara, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The Tucson Police Department later confirmed that Ceesay died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. All the shell casings recovered from the parking lot came from the same 9mm handgun, which police also found at the scene, suggesting no second shooter was involved.
Police said there was no apparent connection between Ceesay, who had only recently moved to Tucson, and the victims. Surveillance footage showed that Ceesay did not attempt to enter the bar during the shooting.
Ceesay was carrying a list of LGBTQ businesses and their addresses. A search of his home uncovered evidence, including a note, indicating that he acted alone and that the shooting was a “targeted attack motivated by hate toward the LGBTQIA+ community,” according to police.
The department said Ceesay was not prohibited from possessing a firearm and had no previous contact with Tucson police.
The Tucson Police Department said its Community Engagement and Outreach Section has contacted the other businesses on Ceesay’s list and continues to work with local organizations to provide support.
Venture-N owner David Wallis, who was out of town at the time of the shooting, told Tucson NBC affiliate KVOA that Siqueiros and Capara were regulars at the bar. He said Venture-N had postponed its biggest party of the year, “The Jungle Party,” which had been scheduled for the upcoming weekend.
Several local LGBTQ and community organizations, including Tucson Queerstory, the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, and Southern Arizona Senior Pride, will hold a vigil honoring Siqueiros and Capara on Wednesday, September 2, at 6:30 p.m. MDT at Catalina Park on Fourth Avenue.
According to GLAAD‘s Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker, nearly 50 people have been killed and almost 350 injured in anti-LGBTQ attacks nationwide since 2022. The group has documented at least 58 targeted anti-LGBTQ attacks in Arizona over the past four years.
“Once again, our community is grieving after a deadly and senseless act of hate. No one should have to live in fear simply because of who they are,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said, offering condolences to the families and friends of Siqueiros and Capara. “At a time of unprecedented attacks and discrimination targeting the LGBTQ community, we need every voice to speak up and advocate for an end to gun violence and to protect vulnerable and marginalized people.”
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero called the killings a “senseless act of gun violence” and said police were treating the attack as a hate crime.
“This tragedy serves as yet another painful reminder that homophobia is still rampant in our country,” Romero said in a statement. “We must implement smarter policies to prevent mass shootings and keep our community safe. Easy access to firearms and Arizona’s weak gun safety laws continue to put all of us at risk.”
Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto said she was “deeply saddened” by the shooting and pledged that her department would work with local community organizations and increase police presence around LGBTQ establishments if needed.
“Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community,” Prieto said in a statement. “Our investigators are thoroughly examining the evidence and pursuing all available leads as they work to establish the full circumstances surrounding this tragic incident. At this time, we have no indication that there is any further ongoing threat to the public.”
Police in Commerce City, Colorado, have arrested an e-bike rider who allegedly hurled homophobic slurs at a gay couple before shooting and critically wounding one of the men.
The apparent road-rage shooting occurred around 9:30 p.m. on August 1 near the victims' apartment complex on East 62nd Avenue. One of the men told police he was driving with his husband in the passenger seat when two e-bike riders cut them off.
The driver told detectives that he honked and flashed his lights at the riders, who began following the car while shouting anti-gay slurs and other derogatory remarks at the couple, according to a police affidavit.
Police in Asheville, North Carolina, shot and killed a man who allegedly opened fire on a gay bar from its parking lot after being kicked out of the establishment.
Shakey's -- which markets itself as a "gay dive bar for drag, karaoke, DJs, cheap drinks, patio hangs, dance parties, and late-night pizza" -- said in a statement posted to Instagram that an individual "whose behavior caused concern" was asked to leave the bar during the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 15. He was later seen with a gun in the bar's parking lot.
Lilly Wachowski is trying to get her latest project, The Hunted, into production. But the acclaimed filmmaker says no one in Hollywood wants to finance the film because of its all-trans cast.
"People like it, but they really don't want to make it because it's wall-to-wall trans cast," Wachowski, who came out as transgender in 2016, told KCRW's The Business podcast earlier this month. "I have to get creative and figure out different ways that I can get this in front of people."
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