Killing May Have Been Case Of Mistaken Gender Bearded Woman, Female Friend Shot To Death

A hairy-faced woman and a female friend were shot to death in a karaoke bar and a witness said the gunman may have been a spurned lover who mistook the bearded woman for a man.

The two women argued with a man with long black hair at the Ambassador Restaurant and Lounge on Tuesday night. The man left and came back hours later and opened fire with a shotgun, police officers and witnesses said.

Police had a suspect but he was still at large Wednesday.

Bar manager Heather Foong, who witnessed one of the killings on a video surveillance camera, said it appeared to her the man had a relationship with one of the women and was jealous of her bearded companion.

“I think he thought she was a man,” Foong said. “The police officers thought (she) was a man at first. It was some kind of problem she had all her life, I think.”

Police spokesman Cliff Madison said investigators had not determined the relationship between the suspect and the victims but said the women may have been roommates at one time.

According to Foong, neither of the women were regular customers, but she had seen them in the bar two or three times in the past month. She did not know the man.

When the man returned with the shotgun, Foong said, he shot one of the women as she came from a back room to the bar, and the bearded woman was shot in the back room.

Foong said she heard the first shots and was in the office dialing 911 when the bearded woman was shot. She said she saw the second shooting on the surveillance camera, but a tape was not rolling at the time.

The bearded woman was identified as Jacqueline Julita Anderson, 29. The name of the other victim, who was 44, was withheld pending notification of relatives.

The doors to the lounge were locked Wednesday. A carpet cleaning van arrived late in the morning and strung blue vacuum tubes through a side door to clean what Madison called “a mess.”

The restaurant, which has been there for 10 years, is known for its karaoke and patrons have won national awards for their performances, Foong said. She said it was not a place for novices.

“They are very serious karaoke people,” she said. “We get the good ones. The bad ones are too scared to sing.”