Log in
My Account
Subscribe 99¢ for 3 months
Newsletter
Finger pushing
loader-image
weather icon 42°F
Weather from WeatherAPI

Daily Weather Report
Powered By:

Login
My Account
Subscribe
Newsletter

Archive Information

Carrier Portal

Search

Buy Our Photos

Former anti-violence advocate allegedly kills man as anniversary of son’s murder nears

By August 13, 2024 | updated 1 year ago

Lumumba Sayers and his daughter Hawaii sit together (copy)
FILE PHOTO: Lumumba Sayers Sr. and his daughter Hawaii sit together at Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts gym in Aurora on Sept. 6, 2023. Hawaii was with Lumumba Sayers Jr. when he was fatally shot and was struck with multiple shots as well.
Tom Hellauer/Denver Gazette



A Denver man who had dedicated his life to getting guns off of Denver’s streets is in jail for allegedly shooting a man at his son’s birthday party.

There are still more questions than answers as to why Lumumba Sayers Sr. went to a children’s birthday party and allegedly opened fire on Saturday, killing 28-year-old Malcolm Watson, according to Commerce City police.

A family member said the birthday party was for Watson’s 5-year-old son.

Friends of Sayers wondered if the anniversary of his son’s violent death may have sent him into a tailspin.

best mumbas.jpg (copy)

FILE PHOTO: Lumumba Sayers Sr. and Jr. (right) were inseparable. “When he was born, I said ‘That’s my face!'” said the father. Sayers Sr. has been arrested on suspicion of murder in what police allege is a revenge killing for his son’s 2023 death. 



Courtesy: Lumumba Sayers Sr.


“It may have been the love for his son and the fact that after he lost Little Lumumba, he didn’t have much to live for,” said Sayers’ cousin, Terrance Roberts. 

Nearly a year ago, Sayers’ son, Lumumba Sayers Jr., was shot and killed in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood.

Sayers Sr., a former MMA fighter and anti-violence activist, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder by the Commerce City Police Department after allegedly shooting Watson in the head at his child’s birthday party, leaving party guests in horror.

The shooting occurred at Pioneer Park at Holly Street and East 60th Avenue. Sayers Sr. allegedly walked up and shot Watson at close range, witnesses said in the arrest affidavit. 

The arrest affidavit noted that Sayers Sr.’s son, 23-year-old Sayers Jr., had been shot and killed by a friend of Watson’s.

Sayers Jr. and 25-year-old Gulian Musiwa were found dead, along with two others injured, on Aug. 19, 2023, at 28th and Welton streets in Denver following an alert of multiple gunshots. 

090223-dg-news- safe-haven09.JPG (copy)

FILE PHOTO: Flowers are attached to the stop sign at the corner of Walton Street and 28th Street where Lumumba Sayers, 23, was killed on Aug. 19, as seen on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Five Points Plaza in Denver. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)






Sayers Jr. — an open anti-violence activist who created Glovez Up Gunz Down Get Your Heads Up in the Hood, a nonprofit organization which guided youth to ditch their guns and, instead, use their voices to solve their problems — was allegedly protecting his sister during the shooting.

Suspect Tyrell Braxton, 24, was arrested a month after the shooting on suspicion of first-degree murder and first-degree assault. But that case has been sealed and the Denver District Attorney could not talk about its disposition. Denver Police Department has announced no other arrests in the year-old double homicide.

Prior to the Saturday shooting, friends say that Sayers Sr. held a fundraiser to raise money for children’s school supplies. 

Lumumba Sayers talks to Shidevin Brown while he trains (copy)

FILE PHOTO: Lumumba Sayers talks to Shidevin Brown while he trains with other fighters in at Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts gym in Aurora on Sept. 6, 2023






In 2015, Sayers Sr. built a community center in an unassuming building at 2360 Dayton in Aurora and called it Heavy Hands, Heavy Hearts Center. The foundation’s aim was to pull kids off of the streets with movie nights, Thanksgiving dinners, fitness classes, mountain camping trips and girl’s empowerment gatherings. Fundraising events were aimed at youth violence prevention.

As a teen, Lumumba Jr. followed his dad’s lead and created Glovez Up Gunz Down Get Your Heads Up in the Hood, a nonprofit organization that sought to guide the youth to ditch their guns and, instead, use their voices to solve their problems.

Sayers Sr. had talked to The Denver Gazette about his son’s death last year.

“This was my baby’s place to be,” Sayers Sr. said, as large television monitors flanked the walls in a therapy room at the Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts Center, where kids played video games and participated in therapy using sand and toys.

A pair of black and blue Pumas and a set of headphones connected to a computer were exactly where his son left them.

“My son used to say, ‘You think you’re a man because you got a gun in your hand? Nah. Everybody knows how to kill, but how many people know how to live?’”

And at his son’s celebration of life, he had called on the community to have the courage to stand up to evil.

“How many of y’all are going to step away from your gang and hold the hood accountable for what they’re doing?” he said. “We’ve learned to sweep murders and assaults under the rug and hide these people in plain sight and they keep killing our kids. Who’s gonna hold the ‘hood accountable for what they’re doing to our kids?”

Watson’s sister told The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, that the birthday party was for Watson’s 5-year-old son. According to the sister, her brother was not involved in the shooting of Sayers Jr.

“How is it a revenge killing if my brother isn’t the one who had anything to do with it?” Watson’s sister said.

Sayers Sr. has a hearing scheduled for Thursday.

The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9News contributed to this report.

Sign Up For Free: Weekly 7

Catch up with a rundown of the 7 most important and interesting stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

View all of our newsletters.

Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

View all of our newsletters.

function subscribeSuccess() {
var nsltrform = document.querySelector(“#nsltr”);
var nsltrSuccess = document.querySelector(“#successnsltr”);

nsltrform.classList.add(“hideblock”);
nsltrSuccess.classList.remove(“hideblock”);
}

function validateEmail(email) {
return String(email)
.toLowerCase()
.match(
/^(([^()[].,;:s@”]+(.[^()[].,;:s@”]+)*)|(“.+”))@(([[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}])|(([a-zA-Z-0-9]+.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$/
);
}

function validateEmailAddress() {
const result = document.querySelector(“#result”);
const email = document.querySelector(“#email”).value;

result.innerText = “”;

if(validateEmail(email)) {
newsletterSubscribe(email);
} else {
result.innerText = ‘The email entered: ‘ + email + ‘ is not valid :(‘;
result.style.color = “red”;
}
return false;
}

function newsletterSubscribe(email) {
fetch(“https://services.gazette.com/mg2-newsletters.php?action=subscribe&site=denvergazette.com&emailPreferenceId=69&email=” + email, {
method: “POST”
}).then(res => {
console.log(“SUCCESSFUL POST”);
subscribeSuccess();
});

}

#nsltr {
min-width: 100%;
margin: 10px 0;
padding: 10px 20px;
background-color: #2076b3;

background-image: url(https://static.gazette.com/emails/circ/Audience%20Images/dg%20weekly%207.png);
background-size: cover;

}

#nsltr-header {
color: #fff4f4;
}
#nsltr-body {
text-align: center;
color: #ffffff;
}
#nsltr-button {
margin-top: 5px;
}
#successnsltr {
min-width: 100%;
margin: 10px 0;
padding: 10px 20px;
background-color: green;
text-align: center;
color: white;
}

#successnsltr a {
color: white;
}

.hideblock {
display:none;
}

h6 a {
color: black;
text-decoration: none;
padding: 5px;
background-color: #bbccdd;
font-weight: 600;
}

@media only screen and (min-width: 768px) {
#nsltr {
background-image: url(https://static.gazette.com/emails/circ/Audience%20Images/dg%20weekly%207.png);
background-size: cover;
}
}

Carol McKinley

Reporter

Welcome Back.

Streak: 9 days i

Stories you've missed since your last login:

Stories you've saved for later:

Recommended stories based on your interests:

Edit my interests