‘Watch my Mimosa’: The Last Moments of Two Venture-N Regulars

It was shortly after midnight, already into Monday, Aug. 31, and the scene was typical for a late night at Tucson’s Venture-N, a classic gay bar in the city’s midtown district.

Roger, a regular patron of the bar, was on the back patio, an enclosure with a few sun-beaten tables and chairs blocked off from the outside by a high light blueish-gray wall. Vincent Siqueiros, 42, another regular and close friend of Roger’s for about a decade, was drinking a mimosa. Roger, whose last name LOOKOUT is not identifying for privacy reasons, took Siqueiros’ typically brunch-oriented drink from him as his friend said he’d be back shortly.

Siqueiros and Cameron Capara, 33, another regular at the bar, were heading outside through the front entrance. Roger didn’t know it, but it would be the last time he would share a drink with his friend.

Friends who spoke with LOOKOUT speculated the two were going out to smoke a cigarette, or perhaps one of them was waiting for an Uber.

But moments after they exited the main door of the bar, shots rang out — about 10 of them, witnesses estimated.

Roger said people immediately recognized the danger and left the patio for cover inside. Shortly afterward, Roger said Capara stumbled into the bar, bleeding heavily.

He left prints of blood on the inside of the door and a trail of blood as he stumbled toward the back, past the pool table, where other patrons laid him down and held wads of napkins against his bullet wounds.

Despite their best efforts and desperate attempts to stop the bleeding, witnesses said Capara died there on the floor. Paramedics found him already dead and did not transport him to the hospital.

The floor was littered with blood-soaked napkins, bloody streaks and footprints leading away from the body.

Siqueiros, meanwhile, never made it back inside. “The last thing he said to me was to watch his mimosa,” Roger said. 

Both Siqueiros and Capara died at the scene. The suspected gunman, Ousman Ceesay, 44, died later at the hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a statement from the Tucson Police Department.

According to witnesses, police were courteous and compassionate. They kept people at the bar until past 5 a.m., questioning them and documenting evidence.

Friends of Siqueiros said he was “welcoming and silly.” Seanna Buck, who knew him for a decade, told LOOKOUT he would “always find the quietest person and be drawn to that person, try to get them out of their box.”

He was born and raised in Tucson and attended Desert Christian Academy, a private Christian school about a 20-minute drive east of the city.

He liked scary movies and shopping. Sweet and caring, Buck said, “The second he walks into a place he gives you a hug.”

Investigators with the Tucson Police Department’s Homicide, Robbery, Assault and Crime Scene units believe Ceesay went to Venture-N near Sixth Avenue and Speedway Boulevard and confronted Siqueiros and Capara in the parking lot before shooting them.

Police said Ceesay was carrying a list of LGBTQ+ businesses. Another statement from Tucson police on Tuesday evening, the day after the shooting, doubled down on that, saying investigators found “evidence to include a note that further indicated he acted alone and that this shooting was a targeted attack motivated by hate toward the LGBTQIA+ community.”

They also said the other businesses listed on Ceesay’s note were contacted. It’s unclear what businesses were listed.

Police Chief Monica Prieto said the department has increased patrols around LGBTQ+ establishments and is working with community organizations to provide support.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said online that the attack was being treated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate incident.

Multiple Tucson-based local groups, as well as national Pride organizations, have posted online in support of the victims and patrons. Queer Takeover Tucson, which holds monthly networking events at bars across the city, wrote that, “Bars and queer spaces are more than places to go out. They are places where people find community, belonging, joy and safety.”

A community vigil for the victims is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Catalina Park on Fourth Avenue in Tucson.