DENVER — Lumumba Sayers Sr., a former mixed martial arts fighter and an anti-gun violence activist whose son was gunned down in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood last year, has now been arrested for murder after allegedly killing a man to avenge his son’s death.
According to an arrest affidavit, Sayers Sr. is accused of shooting a man in the head during a child’s birthday party Saturday evening at Pioneer Park in Commerce City. The victim, identified as Malcolm Watson, is believed to be a friend of the man once believed to have killed Sayers Sr.’s son.
Watson, 28, was pronounced dead at the scene with three gunshot wounds.
Lumumba Sayers Jr., who was also an MMA fighter and anti-gun violence advocate, and another man were killed in a quadruple shooting near the intersection of 28th and Welton streets on Aug. 19, 2023.
The suspect in that case at the time, Tyrell Braxton, was arrested a month later and charged with murder. Court records show the murder case has since been dismissed. By law in Colorado, records are sealed when a case is dismissed. Braxton was still facing a federal charge of illegal possession of ammunition, according to court records.
The arrest affidavit does not detail the alleged relationship between Watson and Braxton, but suggests a connection between the two cases.
"This murder was probably in retaliation or revenge" for Sayers Jr.'s death a year ago, according to a witness account cited in the arrest affidavit.
What happened at Pioneer Park?
The affidavit describes the series of events that led up to the shooting, which happened around 5 p.m. Saturday, and what transpired after, according to witness accounts.
According to the affidavit, Watson was at a birthday party at the Pioneer Park waterpark. One witness told police she saw Sayers Sr., who was not in attendance at the party, “walk up and shoot the victim in the head at close range.”
Another witness told police Sayers Sr. had “killed her baby’s daddy on the baby’s birthday,” according to the affidavit.
Witnesses also told officers Sayers Sr. went back to Waton’s body and tried to shoot him with a second gun, but that gun “jammed.” Sayers Sr. then took a set of keys from Watson’s pocket before apparently trying to plant a handgun near Watson’s body.
Who is Lumumba Sayers Sr.?
Sayers Sr. is a former MMA fighter who started the Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts boxing gym in Aurora, which aims to steer young people away from violence through structured training and a sense of belonging. He operated a foundation with the same name.
His son, Lumumba Sayers Jr., was also an MMA fighter and was heavily involved in the boxing gym and foundation. Sayers Sr. said his son was a leader in the Denver metro area “Gloves Up, Guns Down” program. Similar organizations exist in cities nationwide.
“He was stopping a lot of the violence here in the community,” Sayers Sr. told Denver7 in the wake of his son’s death. “Putting on boxing matches and stuff and showing these kids that there's a different way.”
Sayers Sr. lamented the fact that his son’s life was taken by the very form of violence both men worked to prevent.
“This coward shot my son. The community that we protect, you know, we try to provide for, the community that he tried to help guide in a different direction that he grew up in, they killed my son,” he said in 2023.
A community leader Denver7 spoke to on Monday said Sayers Sr. is still "in a dark place" when it comes to his son's death.
"When a person goes through something like this, they need ongoing support the grief process, the mourning does not go away," said Topazz McBride, who owns the Aurora resource center Rediscovery Through Wellness. "People have their own lives, and so people begin to move back to their own sense of normalcy, which didn't necessarily happen with Lumumba."
"He was so close to his son, he grieved in a different way because of how he's been available to community and to other families who've lost children to gun violence."
McBride told Denver7 she and other community members were on a 2-hour long call Monday morning discussing the arrest of Sayers Sr., and the murder of Watson.
"It was draining, from the standpoint of us having to look at the reality of the state of our community," she said.
McBride added she and others are now focused on what's next.
"What's next is about maintaining peace, but also making sure that we're taking care of those who can't take care of themselves because now they're devastated and prayer for the hearts of everyone that hearts don't get hardened as a result of this," McBride said.
She told Denver7 she plans on putting together an informed trauma response event for leaders and youth in the community on Saturday. She wants the event to bring people together to help process and support one another.
"Everybody has a responsibility right now to to respond in a healthy way, to acknowledge that this pain is there and that there has been an impact, and if we're not responding, we are doing our community and ourselves an injustice," she said.
Watch Denver7's story on Sayers and his son from 2023 in the video player below:
Editor's note: A previous version of this story suggested the shooting of Malcolm Watson happened Friday. It actually happened Saturday.