A former mixed martial artist and longtime anti-gun violence activist is accused of shooting a man in the head at a children’s pool party in retaliation for the murder of his son just a year earlier.
Lumumba Sayers Sr., 46, was arrested on August 10 after he shot a man in the head at close range in Commerce, Colorado. Obtained by 9News He said.
Sayers Sr. was charged with first-degree murder and felony menacing.
The victim, identified as 28-year-old Malcolm Watson, was hosting a party for his 5-year-old son.
The media added that the shooting is believed to be possible retaliation for the shooting last year of Lumumba Sayers Jr. at 28th and Welton Streets in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood.
Sayers Jr., 23, was the father of a 2-month-old son and was one of two people shot and killed around 3:50 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2023.
“Witnesses stated that (the shooter’s son) was killed approximately one year prior by a friend of the victim, making it likely this murder was an act of retaliation or revenge,” the affidavit states of a “possible motive.”
Watson was shot three times and pronounced dead at the scene.
Watson’s sister maintained her brother was innocent and remembered him as a great father and someone who wanted to protect his sisters, before condemning the shooter’s motives.
“How could this be a revenge killing when my brother had nothing to do with it?” Watson’s sister told KUSA.
According to the outlet, Watson was believed to have been in a relationship with Tyrell Braxton, who was arrested and charged with the murder of Sayers Jr., but the affidavit did not provide details about their relationship.
Braxton, 24, was arrested and charged with murder a month after the 2023 shooting, but the case was later dropped.
Under Colorado law, case records are sealed when a case is dismissed, but Braxton still faces a federal charge of illegal possession of ammunition. ABC7 Denver reported.
Sayers Sr. founded the Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts Boxing Gym in Aurora.
A community leader, he also runs the Gloves Down, Guns Down, Hoodies Up Movement, a foundation set up by his son that aims to steer young people away from violence through structured training and a sense of belonging.
Sayers’ son led a program at his father’s gym to keep kids off the streets.
After Thayer Jr.’s death, his grieving father lamented that his son was killed in the very neighborhood he had worked to protect and improve.
“He was stopping a lot of the violence in the area,” Sayers previously told KMGH-TV, “hosting boxing matches and things like that, showing kids there was another way.”
“This coward shot my son. He was killed by the community that we try to protect and support, that we try to lead him in a different direction than the community he grew up in,” he added.
Another leader in Sayers’ community said his father was “in a dark place” after Sayers Jr.’s death.
“People who go through something like this need ongoing support through the grieving process because the grief never goes away,” Topaz McBride, owner of Rediscovery Through Wellness, a resource center in Aurora, told the outlet. “Everyone has their own life and they start to get back to their own sense of normalcy, but that wasn’t necessarily the case with Lumumba.”
“He grieved in a different way because he had a very close relationship with his son and because he has worked so hard for his community and for other families who have lost children to gun violence,” McBride added.
Sayers Sr. is being held at the Adams County Detention Center on $1 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 15.
