$2 million bail set for suspect accused of killing Lake City taproom employee ‘Q’

A judge has set bail at $2 million for a 20-year-old man accused of gunning down a 25‑year‑old employee inside a Lake City beer bar, after finding probable cause for second‑degree murder.

Court documents outline a chilling timeline leading up to the death of Quubsaa Margarsa at Growler Guys, a taproom at 8500 Lake City Way Northeast.

Seattle police responded to the business Saturday after an employee arrived to open the bar around 8:56 a.m. and called 911. That worker, identified in police reports as 29‑year‑old Edward Tabor, told dispatchers he had just unlocked a rear door when he found his co‑worker on the floor in a pool of blood.

Tabor reported that the victim wasn’t moving and that there was “a lot of blood” beneath his head. He also said he spotted three bullet casings on the ground near the body. When officers and Seattle Fire Department crews arrived, they found the victim still warm to the touch but without a pulse. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Detectives later identified the victim as Quubsaa Margarsa, affectionately known as “Q.” He’d been working at Growler Guys for about a year. The bar’s owner, Kelly Dole, told investigators he had known Margarsa for roughly eight years because the young man was close friends with his son.

At the scene, detectives noted a pool of blood behind Margarsa’s head and shoulders, three spent shell casings, and damage to a door frame and patio light fixture consistent with a bullet traveling through the rear door and out into the outdoor seating area.

Piecing together final hours before Lake City taproom employee was killed

As detectives began reconstructing Margarsa’s final hours, friends told them he had spent part of the night at the Lava Hookah Lounge on Aurora Avenue North with several acquaintances. One friend, Tucker “TK” Chrey, said he saw Margarsa at the lounge in the early morning hours but decided not to go inside after sensing a tense atmosphere. He later spoke with Margarsa on FaceTime between about 3:30 and 4:30 a.m.

Two other friends said Margarsa planned to leave the club with a man and a woman he had just met. One of them turned over a short video clip showing Margarsa with that pair.

Surveillance video from Growler Guys later captured Margarsa arriving at the bar around 5:25 a.m. with the same man and woman. According to detectives, the three spent more than an hour inside, drinking and possibly using drugs, and appeared friendly until shortly after 6:40 a.m.

In the hallway near the rear door, investigators said the video shows the group in a heated argument. Around 6:43 a.m., as Margarsa turned his back and appeared to unlock the door with a key, the suspect reportedly pulled out a handgun from a crossbody bag and shot him multiple times in the back. The man then tried to kick open another door before he and the woman fled through the upper half of a Dutch door leading to the patio.

Formal charges for the suspect are expected by the end of the week.

Prosecutors are still reviewing evidence and have not yet announced any formal charges against the woman seen in the surveillance video.

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