Denver police arrested a suspect in the shooting deaths of two people in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood on Aug. 19. 

A month after the violent gun battle on the corner of 28th and Welton streets, officers Tuesday arrested a suspect who was seen on surveillance video in yellow pants walking near the scene.

Tyrell Braxton, 24, could face charges of first-degree murder and first-degree assault in connection with four people who were killed or injured in a spray of bullets which prosecutors said left 70 shell casings scattered across the street and sidewalk.

On Wednesday, 2nd Judicial District Judge Karen Brody ordered Braxton to be held on a $5 million cash bond.

In arguing for that amount, Chief Deputy District Attorney Josh Nathaniel said that Lumumba Sayers Jr, his sister and cousin may have been killed by stray bullets in “the mayhem.” 

Braxton was living in a halfway house, Nathaniel said, was on federal probation from two prior felonies and should not have had a gun or been out at that time of night. 

Police responded to a chaotic scene after receiving a series of Shotspotter gunshot alerts and shooting reports, and found that four victims had been shot, according to the arrest affidavit. The document showed 25-year-old Gulian Musiwa died at the scene and Sayers, 23, was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

Lumumba’s father, Lumumba Sayers Sr., said the two men did not know each other, but the two injured victims were his daughter, Hawaii, and a female cousin. Both will survive their injuries — but not their heartbreak over Lumumba’s death, he said. 

“Little Lumumba,” as he was often called, was well-known in the Black community for his anti-gun stance. The arrest affidavit revealed he fired a gun that night. After his sister and cousin were hit, Lumumba Sayers Jr. “can be seen firing a handgun” in Braxton’s direction. Moments later, the footage showed that he doubled over and died at the hospital an hour later. 

The younger Sayers, also a mixed-martial-arts fighter, often appeared on home-made videos begging kids to put down their guns and get into the gym. Several years ago, he started a nonprofit, Glovez Up Gunz Down Get Your Heads Up in the Hood and mentored young athletes. 

Lumumba Sayers Sr. said he’s seen the video footage that shows his son shot a gun that night, but insisted that the gun did not belong to Lumumba.

“His sister and cousin screamed that they were hit. He was running to help them,” he said. “He grabbed a gun from another kid and started shooting. My son did not own a gun.”  

The younger Sayers was buried in an elaborate funeral service two weeks ago. Twelve hundred people turned out to mourn the young man who had dedicated his life to getting guns off of the streets.

Terrance Roberts, who knows the family and is the subject of a book and documentary called “The Holly,” said it’s difficult for people who did not grow up in Black culture to understand what life is like for its men.  

“This is not the ‘Gateway to the Rockies’ for everybody. It’s a war zone for some demographics. A lot of people are losing their kids,” said Roberts, a 2023 Denver mayoral candidate who was in a gang himself as a youth. “The fact that Lumumba even had to start Glovez Up Gunz Down tells you a lot. That’s the representation of Black youth and that’s where he felt he had to be. It’s such a sad ending for a very promising kid.”