Witness credibility themes dominated the closing arguments of both sides in the murder trial of Lumumba Sayer’s Sr., who is alleged to have shot and killed a man out of revenge for his murdered son.

Victim Malcolm Watson’s family members swiftly exited the Adams County District courtroom as defense attorney Megan Downing told the jury that Sayers Sr., a former MMA fighter and Aurora anti-violence activist, did not walk up to and shoot the 28-year-old man at Watson’s son’s fifth birthday party.

Instead, Downing claimed that there was another shooter and the main witnesses — all friends and family of Watson — had formulated a decision based in hysteria that the defendant shot the man.

“The reality of this case is nobody saw who shot Malcolm,” she said.

The prosecution simply let the evidence and main witnesses speak for themselves after the two-week trial.

Security camera footage showed Sayers Sr. walk up to the party outside of the Paradise Island Pool in Commerce City on Aug. 10, 2024, and quickly back away with a gun in hand.

Video footage from the phone of Audell Thomas, Watson’s child’s mother, showed Sayers Sr. fumbling around with Watson’s dead body, allegedly rubbing his handgun on Watson’s hand before placing it next to his body.

The defendant took the stand and told jurors that he pulled the handgun out of self-defense when the shooting occurred and placed it on the ground to show police he wasn’t involved. Investigators determined no rounds were fired from the gun.

He then stayed at the scene before being arrested and charged with first-degree murder, two counts of felony menacing and two counts of tampering with evidence.

All of the witnesses involved, including the 5-year-old child, claimed that Sayers Sr. did walk up and shoot Watson in the head.

The defense’s witnesses, on the other hand, were not directly involved.

“They were paying attention,” 17th Judicial Deputy District Attorney Aaron Brunskill said. “Paying attention to Mr. Sayers is something no other witness was doing.”

“In some ways, the ‘everybody else’ is who you should pay more attention to,” Downing said of the nonaffiliated witnesses claiming there was another person who shot. “They haven’t decided who is the shooter.”

The prosecution painted the shooting as an act of revenge for the death of Sayers Sr.’s son, Lumumba Sayers Jr.

“The defendant was obsessed with his son’s murder,” Brunskill said.

Sayers Jr., Thomas, Sayers Jr.’s sister and Gulian Musiwa were shot in Denver on Aug. 19, 2023. Sayers Jr. and Musiwa later died from their injuries.

Earlier in the trial, Thomas claimed Watson was cousins with a man involved in Sayers Jr.’s death and was friends with Tyrell Braxton, a man later convicted of the shooting but not the death of the two victims.

The defense asked jurors why Sayers Sr. would target a man only loosely connected to the shooting

“There is something missing in this case,” Downing said. “There’s a murder weapon missing in this case. There’s something we don’t know.”

The murder weapon, thought to be a ghost gun, was missing from the scene, but video footage showed Sayers Sr. walk up to his vehicle after the shooting and hand a wrapped item to his daughter and a man referred to as “Rico.”

The defense made the claim that Rico was the real shooter, and the fact that he wasn’t investigated if he allegedly left with the murder weapon was questionable, potentially meaning both the prosecution and family placed blame on Sayers Sr. without comprehensive research.

“For you to convict someone of first-degree murder, you’ve got to put that gun in (Sayers Sr.’s) hand,” Downing said.

The prosecution pointed to inconsistencies in Sayers Sr.’s story, noting that it first appeared that Sayers Sr. was attempting to set up a self-defense claim by placing the gun, but after he noticed Thomas recording with her phone, he panicked.

His story then shifted to a mystery shooter, Brunskill said.

The prosecution also asked why Sayers Sr. was not running or checking on his grandchildren if there was a mystery shooter.

Sayers Sr. took the stand Wednesday afternoon in an act that was reportedly important to him but also a “great risk,” according to Downing.

In his testimony, the defendant said he considered Watson family and knew him well.

For a rebuttal witness after Sayers testified, the prosecution brought Watson’s father to the stand Thursday morning. He said his son was not related to the Sayers and was not friends with them.

Furthermore, after being arrested, Sayers Sr. did not tell police that the handgun left on the ground was his and did not say there was another shooter.

“If there’s this mystery shooter out there killing his family, maybe he should tell (the police) about it,” Brunskill said.

Still, the defense tried to cast doubt on the witnesses’ claims, playing the 911 call where Thomas said she “didn’t know” who the shooter was and that someone had left in a car.

The case was handed over to the jury to start deliberation Friday morning.