A former MMA fighter was arrested this week after he allegedly shot and killed a man in what was believed to be an act of revenge.
Lumumba Sayers Sr., 46, was charged with first-degree murder and felony menacing charges in Commerce City, Colo., after he allegedly shot a man in the head on Saturday. According to an arrest affidavit that was obtained by 9News in Denver, the shooting took place at a pool party for a child. Witnesses said they watched Sayers “walk up and shoot the victim in the head at close range.”
Witnesses told police that Sayers believed the victim, 28-year-old Malcolm Watson, had a connection to the murder of Sayers’ son, Lumumba Sayers Jr. The younger Sayers was one of two people killed nearly a year ago on Aug. 19, 2023 in a shooting in Denver. Sayers Jr. was 23.
“Witnesses had stated the [shooter’s son] had been murdered about a year ago by a friend of the deceased […] and this murder was probably in retaliation or revenge,” the arrest affidavit states.
A 24-year-old man named Tyrell Braxton was arrested and charged with Sayers Jr.’s murder a month after last year’s shooting, but the case was later dismissed. Police did not disclose any details about the alleged relationship between Watson and Braxton.
Sayers Sr. had been active in the community since he retired from fighting and spoke out against gun violence. He founded the Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts Foundation and the “Gloves Up Guns Down: Get Your Heads Up in the Hood movement,” both of which are aimed at helping keep young people out of trouble. Sayers Jr., who was also an MMA fighter, had been active with his father’s foundations as well.
Sayers Sr. fought across several promotions, including Strikeforce. He is being held at Adams County Detention Facility on a $1 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 15.
