A large crowd of Tucsonans gathered in Catalina Park close to sunset Wednesday for a candlelight vigil in honor of the victims of Monday’s shooting at the Venture-N bar in midtown.
Cameron Davis Capara, 33, and Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, were shot in the parking lot of Venture-N on North 6th Avenue early Monday morning by the suspect, 44-year-old Ousman Ceesay, who then turned the gun on himself. According to police, Ceesay is not believed to have known the victims. He was found in possession of a list containing the names of local LGBTQIA+-associated businesses, leading police to investigate the shooting as a hate crime.
The vigil took place at the Philip Walsted Memorial in Catalina Park, whose namesake was himself the victim of a hate crime in 2002 after leaving IBT’s, a gay bar on 4th Avenue.
Half an hour before the vigil started, the park was already filled with people, who brought an unusual amount of life to the otherwise quiet area.
A rainbow flag was stuck in the middle of the grass area, while people gave each other long, tight hugs and dried each others’ tears as the sun set quietly, painting the sky pink. Friends, family and community members brought candles, flowers and a silver Polaroid camera to place in front of the large pictures of the two victims, which were set up in front of the stage.
Several city officials, including Pima County Supervisor Andres Cane, Ward 6 councilmember Miranda Schubert and Vice Mayor Lane Sant Cruz, made public addresses. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said people must honor the lives lost with action, not just words.
“As your mayor, I will always stand up for the rights, dignity and safety of our LGBTQ+ Tucsonans. No estan solos: You're not alone,” Romero said. “We are with you. We love you. You are part of us. And as we suffer together, we heal together. And part of this healing starts today, tonight.”
Siqueiros’ sister, Kate Marquez, reminisced about her last phone call with her brother.
“At one point, Vincent wondered aloud, ‘If something happened to me, who would actually be there?’ That was six days ago. Vincent, look who's here. Tonight, thousands of people have answered my little brother's question. And I wish more than anything he could stand here where I'm standing and see this for himself.”
Marquez said despite her brother knowing pain from a young age, he “chose to live a life of joy and fearlessness”:
“The world was not always kind to my brother. But if you know Vincent, when he was asked to turn himself down, he turned himself up. When people questioned his worth, he stood taller. When people judged who he loved, he loved harder. Perhaps he is the one who taught me the conviction of speaking up and having hard conversations. Even at 5 years old, Vincent was bigger and braver than all of us."
“He was brave enough to live authentically in a world that sometimes told him his authentic self was unacceptable. He chose love anyway. Vincent and Cameron should be here tonight. Instead, they were taken from us because hate was allowed to become violence. No gun gets to define my brother. No hatred gets to erase his joy. No judgment gets to diminish the love he gave or received. And no one gets to make Vincent smaller in death than he was in life.”
Jeff Capara, father of Cameron Capara, spoke about his son, or as he knew him, ‘Cheese’:
“He cared deeply about people in Tucson or those thousands of miles away. People who were marginalized, overlooked, or misunderstood. One of the things I admired most about him was that he didn't judge people. He believed that everyone had their own story, their own struggles, and their own reasons for being who they were. He wanted people to have the freedom to simply be themselves without being judged for it. And in the same way, he didn't want to be judged himself. He wanted to be accepted for who he was. That was Cameron.”
Capara also highlighted his son’s passion for photography and animals:
“He loved his cats, and Junto was one of his favorites. But his compassion went beyond his own cats. He would feed the feral cats in the neighborhood because he couldn't just see an animal that was hungry and walk away. Cameron cared about people, animals, and he cared about people who didn't always have someone looking out for them.”
After looking at the candle-lit faces of hundreds of Tucsonans from the stage, Marquez asked the crowd to continue to show up for one another:
“Tomorrow will be different because we stood here. Speak louder when someone else is being silenced. Challenge the joke. Speak when someone is being diminished. Defend the person who isn't in the room. And when someone you love tells you that something you are saying or doing makes them feel less worthy, believe them enough to listen. Because history does not change simply because people privately believe the right things. History changes when people stand up, especially when standing up is inconvenient, especially when it costs us something, especially when we are afraid.”
During the vigil, it was announced that Venture-N had reopened to patrons.
