Pro-Palestine Photographer and Friend Shot Dead by Muslim Man in Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crime

Ousman Ceesay, 44, opened fire on two men outside a Tucson gay bar early Monday morning before turning the gun on himself. Police say the attack was a targeted hate crime motivated by bias against the LGBTQ community.

TUCSON, Arizona – A Muslim man shot and killed a pro-Palestinian photographer and his friend as they were leaving a Tucson gay bar before turning the gun on himself in what police have confirmed was an anti-LGBTQ hate crime .

The violence unfolded around 12:30 a.m. Monday at Venture-N, a longtime midtown gay bar. Ousman Ceesay, 44, confronted Cameron Davis Capara, 33, and Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, in the parking lot — two men he did not know — and opened fire with a 9mm handgun . Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Ceesay then shot himself and later died at a hospital .

A Targeted Attack

Tucson Police confirmed that Ceesay was carrying a note with a list of other gay-friendly businesses in the area, though he never entered the bar where the shooting occurred . A second note found in his home "indicated he acted alone and that this shooting was a targeted attack motivated by hate toward the LGBTQIA+ community," the department said .

"Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community," Police Chief Monica Prieto said . Officers increased patrols around other LGBTQ-friendly businesses after the shooting, though police said there was no indication of a wider threat .

The Victims

Cameron Davis Capara was a well-known photographer and social-justice activist who spent years documenting LGBTQ nightlife, campus demonstrations, rallies over Gaza, and protests against ICE . His father, Jeff Capara, remembered him as someone who "didn't judge people" and "believed that everyone had their own story, their own struggles, and their own reasons for being who they were" .

"He cared deeply about people in Tucson or those thousands of miles away. People who were marginalized, overlooked, or misunderstood," Jeff Capara said .

Vincent Anthony Siqueiros was remembered by his sister, Kate Marquez, as joyful and fearless. At a memorial for the two men, she revealed that her brother had voiced a haunting question just days before his death: "If something happened to me, who would actually be there?" . "Vincent, look who's here. Tonight, thousands of people have answered my little brother's question," she said, addressing the crowd at a vigil .

Hundreds packed Catalina Park for a candlelight vigil organized by local LGBTQ groups .

The Shooter

Ousman Ceesay was born in The Gambia, a West African nation where homosexuality remains illegal . He immigrated to the United States around 2010 on a student visa, attended college in Oklahoma, married an Oklahoma woman in 2012, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen .

Ceesay was a practicing Muslim who prayed five times a day, his cousin Muhammad Sylva told the Arizona Daily Star . Sylva said he had never heard his cousin talk about hating gay people and described his faith as not "extreme" .

Public records listed Ceesay as an Uber driver with little U.S. criminal history beyond a 2012 speeding ticket . He and his wife had reportedly been experiencing financial trouble, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2018 and being evicted from their Oklahoma City home in 2025 . He had only recently moved to Arizona in December .

Police have not publicly described any other ideology beyond the anti-LGBTQ writings they recovered .

A Divided Response

The attack has sparked sharply divergent reactions online . Some have emphasized that the shooting proves anti-gay hatred is still deadly, while others have pointed to the killer's background and the victim's political activism as a collision of causes .

Police, for now, are sticking to what they found on paper: a targeted attack on two men leaving a gay bar, and a shooter who did not walk away .

This is a developing story.