A Monday night at Venture-N ended with two men dead, a suspected shooter dead and a Tucson LGBTQ+ community suddenly wondering whether one of its longtime gathering places was still safe.
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Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, and Cameron Davis Capara, 33, were fatally shot outside the longtime gay bar at around 12:30 a.m. on August 31, according to the Tucson Police Department. The suspected shooter, 44-year-old Ousman Ceesay, also died after sustaining life-threatening gunshot wounds and being taken to a local hospital.
Police are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.
A beloved queer space became a crime scene
According to police, Ceesay confronted Siqueiros and Capara in the Venture-N parking lot before shooting them and then himself. Investigators later found a note on Ceesay containing the names and addresses of several LGBTQ+-associated businesses.
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That detail has understandably intensified fears within Tucson’s LGBTQ+ community, although authorities have stressed that the investigation is still ongoing.
Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto said investigators are examining the evidence and pursuing leads to establish what happened.
“Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community. Our investigators are thoroughly examining the evidence and pursuing all available leads as they work to establish the full circumstances surrounding this tragic incident,” Prieto said in a news release.
Police said Monday that there was no known active threat to the wider public. Still, TPD increased its presence around LGBTQ+ businesses in Tucson, acknowledging the fear and pain the shooting caused.
“We recognize this incident may cause fear and pain within our community,” Prieto said. “Tucson is, and always has been, a diverse community where people of different backgrounds, identities and experiences call this city home. We are committed to ensuring every member of our community feels safe, valued and welcomed.”
Two lives, remembered beyond the headlines
Outside Venture-N on Monday afternoon, about two dozen people gathered near the bar. People hugged. People cried. Flowers and candles appeared beside framed photographs of Siqueiros and Capara, turning the doorway into a makeshift memorial.
For those who knew them, neither man was simply a victim in a breaking-news alert.
Loya, a Venture-N regular, remembered Siqueiros as someone who made people feel at ease.
“He’s always just been a thoughtful, considerate person, always looking for the best in people,” Loya said of Siqueiros. “You could always have fun with him.”
Capara was remembered as a photographer whose passion extended far beyond his work. Drew Fellows, who had been friends with Capara for three years, described him as a “revolutionary” photographer who cared deeply about his craft and the people around him.
“He was always with a people-first mentality,” Fellows said. “He always fought for and believed in a better future, for himself, for his community and, most importantly, for everybody.”
Those descriptions matter because queer spaces are not just buildings with rainbow merchandise and a drink menu. They are where people meet friends, find partners, discover chosen family and, sometimes, simply get through another week. Venture-N had been that kind of place for generations.
“This is so not Tucson”
The Venture-N is one of the few LGBTQ+ bars remaining in Tucson. The longtime neighborhood bar has been open since at least the 1980s and has become a regular gathering place for the Bears of the Old Pueblo, a gay men’s group.
One regular previously told the Tucson Sentinel that he had been coming to the bar since 1982 and described it as a safe and accepting place. That history makes Monday’s violence particularly jarring.
Rick Morey-Wolfe, secretary of Tucson Queerstory, a nonprofit that archives the region’s LGBTQ+ history, noted that Tucson Pride itself was born following a hate crime: the 1976 murder of Richard Heakin outside the Stonewall Inn. Morey-Wolfe said only one other known fatal LGBTQ+ hate crime had occurred in Tucson since then: the 2002 killing of Philip Walsted.
For decades, Tucson has largely been considered a safe place for LGBTQ+ people.
“This is unbelievable. This is so not Tucson,” Morey-Wolfe said outside Venture-N.
But the community is also confronting the reality that queer spaces can never be taken for granted. Queerstory President Randy Pease, who is also a regular at Venture-N, said he had been numb since the shooting and connected the violence to a broader rise in hate crimes and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from some elected officials.
“I’ve been kind of numb all day,” Pease said. “When someone in the community is murdered through hate, it affects us all.”
The answer isn’t disappearing
Tucson officials have condemned the shooting and expressed support for the LGBTQ+ community. Pima County Supervisor Jennifer Allen called the killings “senseless and shocking” and described Venture-N as a quiet neighborhood bar whose clientele are mostly gay men.
“There is no place for hate in Pima County.”
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero called the shooting a “direct and senseless attack” against the city’s LGBTQ+ community. She also called for stronger gun safety policies, arguing that easy access to firearms and Arizona’s gun laws put communities at risk.
“This tragedy serves as yet another painful reminder that homophobia is still rampant in our country,” Romero said. “We must implement smarter policies to prevent mass shootings and keep our communities safe. Easy access to firearms and Arizona’s weak gun safety laws continue to put all of us at risk.”
Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz, a queer member of the Tucson City Council, in a recent video described Venture-N as a beloved place where LGBTQ+ people gather, celebrate and build chosen family.
“The toll is devastating,” Santa Cruz wrote. “Queer spaces are where people build chosen family, celebrate, gather and belong.”
Councilmember Miranda Schubert, who is also queer, urged people to “stand together” rather than “shrink in fear.” And that sentiment may be the most important one to emerge from the grief.
Because when a queer space is attacked, the instinct to stay home can be powerful. The idea of avoiding the bar, the club, the Pride event or the community gathering can feel like the safest possible response.
But Loya isn’t planning to disappear. After the shooting, he said the tragedy showed that the fight for LGBTQ+ equity and safety is far from finished.
“We can’t be safe even in our own bars,” he said. “We have to use that compassion, that strength, to keep going.”
He also said the people at Venture-N did not know the shooter. For Loya, returning to Venture-N isn’t really a question.
“Venture-N is a safe community for everyone,” he said. “I can’t just stay home and be afraid.”
Tucson gathers in grief
A candlelight vigil for Siqueiros and Capara will be held Wednesday, September 2, at 6:30 p.m. at the Philip Walsted Memorial at Catalina Park. Tucson Queerstory is organizing the gathering.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover described the shooting as a “tragic and isolated incident” and said there is currently no imminent threat to the wider community.
“No one should fear being targeted simply because of who they are and where they gather. I speak in solidarity with our LGBTQ+ community.”
Because all known suspects are deceased, Conover said there will likely be no prosecution, but she emphasized that Tucson police will continue investigating what appears to be a hate-fueled attack.
Police are asking anyone with information to call 911 or 88-CRIME, which allows anonymous tips. The Pima County Attorney’s Office also encouraged people affected by the shooting to contact its Victim Services division.
For now, Tucson’s LGBTQ+ community is left with grief, questions and an all-too-familiar decision: whether fear gets to determine where queer people gather.
At Venture-N, at least one regular has already made his choice. He isn’t staying home.
Source: Wildcat and Tucson Sentinel