SEATTLE — A north Seattle community is mourning the loss of a 25-year-old beer garden employee who was killed while closing the business Friday night.

Loved ones identified the victim as Quusaa Margarsa, known to many as “Q.” Seattle police are searching for the suspect but have not released details about the circumstances surrounding the killing, including whether investigators believe it was a robbery gone wrong or a targeted attack.

Police said Margarsa was working at The Growler Guys on Lake City Way NE on Friday night when he was killed. A co-worker discovered him the next morning.

“I want to know why. I think we all want to know why. What was the reasoning?” said Coreena Richards, a childhood friend of Margarsa.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Memorials, mourners honor young employee found dead at North Seattle beer garden

Throughout the weekend, friends, family members, and customers stopped by the north Seattle beer garden to leave flowers, candles, and messages at a growing memorial honoring Margarsa.

“Amazing, one of one — you’re never going to meet anybody like him,” Richards said.

Margarsa, a graduate of Nathan Hale High School, was a member of the school’s 2017 championship basketball team, according to the school’s alumni association. Friends described him as a “gentle soul” who was full of humor.

“He’s funny as hell. He was the life of the party. Very sweet, very kind,” Richards said.

Family members said Margarsa was preparing to celebrate his 26th birthday later this month and had been planning a birthday trip. Instead, his life was cut short while he was closing the beer garden where he worked. Police said Margarsa died of apparent gunshot wounds.

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“He was very sweet, very nice — a young guy with his whole life ahead of him. Very sad,” said Robert Bishop, a customer at The Growler Guys.

Days after the killing, customers continued to visit the memorial site, lighting candles and calling for answers as detectives searched for whoever was responsible.

“I’ve been on social media asking everybody, because it’s one thing for a mom to find out on Mother’s Day,” Bishop said. “Everybody in the neighborhood should be up in arms about this.”

As investigators work to solve what police say is Seattle’s 12th homicide of 2026, authorities have not said whether the attack was random or targeted. Police also have not said whether surveillance cameras at the business captured images of the suspect.

“You got nothing out of it. You gained nothing from this,” Richards said. “They took somebody very, very important to the people who knew him, loved him, and cared for him.”

Seattle police said the circumstances surrounding the killing remain under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact the department’s violent crimes tip line at 206-233-5000.

I have always been in love with cities. I joke with friends that I have crushes on cities the way they have crushes on good-looking strangers. Sometimes—as with Paris and London—my unrequited crush meant finding an excuse to move there. With Seattle, however, that initial attraction grew into a long-term relationship.

I arrived here as a “tech baby,” coming from Canada to work at Microsoft as a college intern. For a long time, I felt as though I were living in a bubble—until I realized I could pivot my career and work in and on the city I’d come to call home. Through my company, Dunn & Hobbes, I’ve done just that, spending more than 25 years building and renovating spaces for retail, restaurants, and creative work. I love old buildings—but what I love more is what happens inside and around them. I love making space for creative people and then watching them fully inhabit those places and thrive. I also love how a collection of structures on a block can become an economic and artistic ecosystem.

Working in real estate is not just about making deals—you’re crafting pieces of the city, and that comes with both impact and responsibility.

Small businesses are the heart and soul of any neighborhood. Research shows that locally owned businesses generate a much higher multiplier effect in the regional economy than national chains. Beyond economics, the independent shops, restaurants, and designers that comprise the core fabric of a city are the secret sauce that makes it feel unique.

Nowhere is that more evident than Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine corridor, where I’ve conducted most of my work and lived out large chunks of my adult life. During the past 25 years, it has become a case study in what happens when you preserve character  and invest in small business. The area was once filled with old auto-row buildings that had fallen into disuse. Instead of wiping the slate clean, local developers, including me, saw an opportunity for creative reuse. Those buildings turned out to be perfectly scaled for independent retailers and restaurants, creating a unique critical mass that offers a popular destination for locals and tourists alike.

What makes Pike/Pine special is its texture and grit—the layered history you feel in both the physical architecture and the spirit of the shops and restaurants. A large percentage of businesses are owned by members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, immigrants, and people of color. The density of independent retailers and studios—and the inclusive community that supports them—creates omething you can’t replicate with a formula. It evolved over decades, shaped by artists, musicians, designers and small entrepreneurs willing to take risks and plant their flags.

Today, neighborhoods like Pike/Pine face challenges that threaten the tightly woven ecosystem that makes them thrive. There’s a difference between gritty and too gritty, and during the past six years, it’s become harder to attract people. Foot traffic in neighborhood retail districts is dropping, even as downtown begins to recover with tourism. Small businesses are dealing with crushing cost pressures, many tied to public safety concerns and well-intentioned policies with unintended consequences. Public safety has been the elephant in the room—though I do believe we are starting to see improvements. At the same time, our habits have changed. Seattleites have been hibernating, whether because of repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic or the convenience of delivery apps, streaming, and gaming.

And yet, people still deeply crave connection.

That’s why what’s happening in Pike/Pine right now is inspiring and hopeful. Many of the people who helped shape the neighborhood are still here, investing their time, money, and creativity because they care deeply about its future. We’re doubling down on what makes it special—art walks, a slate of new murals, the On The Block street fair, and Capitol Hill Block Party—all invitations for the community to come back out and re-engage.

This spring, on Saturday, May 16th, we’re launching something new: the Pike/Pine Spring Fashion Walk and Social. It’s designed to be an annual celebration that stretches across the neighborhood, anchored by a collection of activations at Melrose Market, and a runway show on the “catwalk” at Chophouse Row that will include Seattle fashion apparel leaders Glasswing, JackStraw, the Refind, the Finerie, and Flora and Henri. Neighborhood-based designer and brand activations up and down the corridor will include open studios, DJs, wine tastings, in-store pop-ups, and involvement from local college students—bringing in the next generation of designers and entrepreneurs. One of the goals is to remind everyone that Seattle still has amazing fashion “game,” offering a scene that is just as creative and diverse as anything you might find in New York or LA. At its core, this event is not about shopping. It’s about creating a reason for people to come together, to reconnect, and to experience the neighborhood as a shared space.

Because that’s the point. Cities work best when we show up—for them and for each other. Seattle’s culture is not something that exists just for us to consume; we are all participants in shaping it. So, my call to action is simple: come out. Walk around and meet your neighbors. Engage in what’s happening. It feels good—and it does good.

SEATTLE — Memorials are growing outside popular beer garden The Growler Guys in North Seattle, as friends and family honor the life of a young employee found dead at the business Saturday morning.

Seattle police said coworkers found the victim’s body with apparent fatal gunshot wounds inside The Growler Guys around 9 a.m. Saturday. Authorities have not publicly identified the victim yet. He was in his 20s.

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The young man’s death has shocked and shaken the surrounding North Seattle community.

Dozens of family members, friends, and regular customers surrounded the taped-off homicide scene for hours throughout the day Saturday. Several people who knew the victim described him as a friend to all, a family man, and a stand-out employee to his boss, Kelly Dole.

“He was a part of my community at The Growler Guys,” Dole said. “It’s been a joy just to see them together day after day, and for him to lose his life this way is just a shame and such a loss.”

The victim was also a close friend of Dole’s son for years.

The Growler Guys is closed for the time being, but many people stopped by on Sunday to drop off flowers, cards, or to stop to take a moment and reflect.

A note left at the corner of NE 85th St. and 20th Ave. NE was written by a family that had the victim serve them at The Growler Guys. “While we were only lucky enough to know you for one evening,” the note reads, “I know there are many, many more lives you have made a lasting impact on.”

Left next to the note was a child’s apple juice box. Coworkers of the victim said he always gave kids free apple juice.

“Don’t tell my boss,” they said the victim would say with a smile.

He really was important to the guests and always had a smile, Dole said of his young employee. He had worked at The Growler Guys for about a year.

The victim was killed sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, and police are still investigating a possible motive and suspect. So far, no arrests have been made.

People living nearby, who wanted to remain anonymous, said they didn’t hear any gunshots but called the death shocking: “Well, my heart breaks. My first thought is that it’s a tragedy,” one man said.

Anyone with information or surveillance video in the surrounding Lake City area should contact Seattle police or 911 immediately.

Dole said he hopes justice is served to offer a small piece of closure to the victim’s grieving family.

“My heart goes out to his mom and his dad, his brother and other family members,” Dole said. “It’s just so tragic.”