Getting SQLITE_BUSY on a readonly database query

I am writing an OSX application that executes queries on a sqlite database. A different application has an open connection to the database, and because of that, I am getting SQLITE_BUSY on that connection. Retries occur, but the SQLITE_BUSY persists. Is it possible that the mode the other database connection prevent any reads on the database?

NSString *query = "SELECT ......... ";
[database executeQuery:query];

I have tried opening the database without flags, as well as with:

[database open]

and

[database openWithFlags:SQLITE_OPEN_READONLY]

but the behavior does not change.