Double killing in Tucson investigated as a hate crime

A gunman shot and killed two men in the parking lot of a long-time Tucson gay bar early Monday then died in an apparent suicide, Tucson police say.

Tucson police are investigating the case as a hate crime.

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

Police said the gunman, Ousman Ceesay, 44, carried a note with several LGBTQIA+ associated businesses written on it.

"We recognize this incident may cause fear and pain within our community," Prieto said.

Police will increase patrols around LGBTQIA+ establishments and the department is coordinating with community organizations to provide support, she said.

The killing happened about 12:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Venture-N, a gay bar in the 1200 block of North Sixth Avenue, north of East Speedway.

Two men — Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, and Cameron Davis Capara, 33 — were found dead at the scene, police said in a news release.

Cessay was wounded and died at the hospital.

Police say it appears the two men were shot after a confrontation.

“It’s a neighborhood dive bar full of friends who happen to be gay,” said Alan Clark, who stopped by the bar Monday morning wearing a Venture-N T-shirt. ‘Everyone knows everyone. We’re all friends, been friends for years.”

One 75-year-old man, who was in the bar at the time the shooting occurred, said it was a quiet night with only 10 people at most in the bar.

“All of a sudden we hear maybe 10 gunshots outside the door,” said the man, who asked not to be identified out of security concern. “All of a sudden we see a tall guy walking through the door, blood coming out near his armpit. He said, ‘I’m shot.’”

The patrons got him to sit down and tried to help, the 75-year-old said. He held the man’s head as others tried to help with the bleeding.

“He was bleeding pretty bad. He bled out and died maybe within a minute. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”

It was shocking not just for the obvious reason but because it’s such a low-key place that some people even call it the “Denture-N.”

The community of regulars who go to the bar watches out for each other and was anxiously texting each other Monday morning, Clark said, finding out who of their brotherhood was lost and who was there.

Clark was already thinking that the shooting could be a hate crime, mentioning the June 2016 mass killing at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando where a gunman killed 49 people and wounded dozens more.

"Right after Pulse happened, I remember coming here and all of us were shooken up by that. And it was a matter of, you know, keep in touch with each other, check in, we are a community," Clark said hours before police said the shooting was likely a hate crime. "We all want to make sure that we're there for each other."