Last week, a Gambian shot and killed a photographer and his friend as they were leaving a gay bar in the state of an Arizona gay bar before turning the gun on himself in what cops say was a hate crime.
Ousman Ceesay unleashed the violence in Tucson around 12:30am last Monday — targeting two men he did not know, Tucson Police confirmed.
Cameron Davis Capara, 33, and Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, were in the parking lot of Venture-N when they were confronted and then shot by Ceesay, according to the police.
Ceesay, 44, then shot himself with a 9mm handgun.
The gunman was carrying a note with a list of other gay-friendly businesses in the area, but cops said he never tried to enter the bar near where he committed the heinous crime.
A second note in his home found by detectives “indicated he acted alone and that this shooting was a targeted attack motivated by hate toward the LGBTQIA+ community,” the department said.
Ceesay, originally from The Gambia in West Africa, had no prior contacts with the police department and had only just moved to the area from Oklahoma City in December, the Arizona Daily Star newspaper reported, citing sources.
He and his wife were facing money troubles after racking up more than US$76,000 in debt that forced them to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2018, according to the outlet.
Ceesay previously worked as an Uber driver and was a practicing Muslim who prayed five times a day, his cousin told the Arizona Daily Star.
Capara was a photographer who spent years documenting LGBTQ nightlife, campus demonstrations, rallies over Gaza and protests against ICE, said his father, Jeff Capara.
Siqueiros’ sister, Kate Marquez, said her brother made an eerie statement about his legacy in their last phone call before his death.
“At one point, Vincent wondered aloud, ‘If something happened to me, who would actually be there?’ That was six days ago,” she said at a memorial for her brother and Capara.