Ex-MMA Fighter Who Worked to End Gun Violence Accused of Fatally Shooting Man as Revenge for Son's Murder

A recent fatal shooting in Colorado is believed to be an act of retaliation for the death of the son of a former MMA fighter, according to local authorities.

Lumumba Sayers Sr. was arrested and charged with murder last week, as reported by the Denver Gazette. The athlete’s 23-year-old son was killed in a shooting last August, and Sayers is now accused of killing Malcolm Watson, who was reportedly a friend of the person initially arrested in connection with the 2023 crime.

As Carol McKinley and Sage Kelley reported on Tuesday, the suspected retaliatory shooting occurred during a birthday party for Watson’s five-year-old son.

In a brief statement shared on social media on Aug. 10, the Commerce City Police Department said officers responded to the parking lot at Pioneer Park around 5:00 p.m. local time, where they found a deceased male.

"A person of interest is detained and the investigation is ongoing," a police rep said. "The incident was contained to the parking lot and did not occur or spill over into the pool or park."

Terrance Roberts, identified in the report as Sayers’ cousin, stated that Sayers "didn’t have much to live for" nearly a year after his son’s death in Denver. This sentiment was echoed in an arrest affidavit referenced in a separate report by KMGH-TV, where a witness to the shooting suggested that the killing was "probably in retaliation or revenge" for what happened last August.

Years before losing his son to gun violence, Sayers founded the Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts nonprofit in Aurora, which provided a "safe place" for people of all ages to access various resources.

"It’s the community that I came from, that we’ve been trying to help, that we’ve been doing things for, that killed my baby," Sayers said in an interview with KDVR last year.

In 2019, Sayers and Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts played a key role in organizing an anti-gun violence event in the Denver area. Sayers highlighted that the goal of the Heal the Hood event, along with other efforts to curb gun violence, was to prevent "senseless killings" in the area.

Like his father, Lumumba Sayers Jr., who was also an MMA fighter, followed in his father's footsteps from a young age, starting at five when he began accompanying his father to MMA events. An obituary noted that Sayers Jr. "was a man who followed the guidance of his dad in all aspects of life."

Complex has reached out to local law enforcement agencies for comment, and this story may be updated. According to online jail records from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Sayers, 46, was booked on August 11, with bail set at $1 million.