A Seattle beer garden employee was found shot dead when the establishment opened the next morning while his co-worker, accused of pulling the trigger, turned himself in days later, claiming self-defense.
Quusaa “Q” Margarsa, 25, was found dead inside The Growler Guys in Northeast Seattle by his fellow employees Saturday morning when they arrived to open up for the day, according to a police report obtained by the Seattle Times.
Investigators said his co-worker, 20-year-old Lucas Logan, is accused of killing Margarsa after the pair had been hanging out at the bar after hours with an unidentified woman.
After closing The Growler Guys around 1:30 a.m., Margarsa headed to Lava Hookah Lounge — later leaving with a man and woman he met there, friends told investigators.
The three then returned to The Growler Guys together.
Surveillance footage showed Margarsa, Logan and the woman arriving at 5:25 a.m., with Margarsa using the key given to him by the owners to access the closed establishment.
Inside, the three spent about an hour hanging out and drinking before what appeared to be an argument broke out between Margarsa and Logan at the front door at around 6:40 a.m. Investigators also noted the group may have been doing narcotics together during that time.
According to the arrest report, the woman told investigators the argument started when Margarsa wanted Logan to leave the bar and for her to stay back with him.
Investigators noted in a probable cause statement obtained by the Seattle Times that while the footage contained no audio, during the argument, Margarsa is seen turning his back to unlock the door.
“The male suspect pulled out a handgun from his crossbody bag and shot Margarsa multiple times in the back,” the statement said.
Logan and the woman fled through the top half of a Dutch door and escaped in her car moments after the shooting, according to the probable cause statement.
Hours later, a co-worker arrived Saturday morning, found the door open and discovered Margarsa on the floor in a pool of blood with three spent casings nearby.
Two days after the shooting, Logan turned himself in to police with his defense attorney, Pete Mazzone, on Monday morning, KOMO News reported.
Logan’s attorney insists his client shot Margarsa in self-defense, according to KOMO News.
“This is a clear case of not only self-defense, but defense of others,” Mazzone said at a brief court hearing in the King County Jail on Tuesday.
“The fear was ‘we’re locked in here, and this guy doesn’t want to let the girl leave,’” Mazzone said.
“When they tried to leave peacefully, they found the door they had come in from was locked. It wasn’t that Mr. Q was escorting them out, it was Q was escorting, at least Logan, into a back room where he had words with him.”
However, prosecutor Chris Anderson told the court Margarsa had his back turned with his key in the door when Logan drew a gun, pointed it at his head and fired.
“Mr. Margarsa was found with the key to that door in his dead hand. Not a weapon — a key,” Anderson said.
King County District Court Judge Matthew York set Logan’s bail at $2 million Tuesday, agreeing with prosecutors that the 20-year-old is a danger to the community given the “brazen” nature of the alleged shooting, the Seattle Times reported.
Prosecutors said they will review the case and expect to decide on charges within the coming days.
As for the woman at the beer garden that night, prosecutors believe she had no involvement in the shooting and did not directly witness it, adding that she had contacted police through a private attorney and was cooperating with the investigation.
