Commerce City police suspect retaliation for son's killing as motive in deadly weekend shooting
After an unusually violent weekend in Commerce City, police are working to learn what led to five people being killed in just a few days. Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason said he'd never seen so much violence in such a short period of time in over 17 years as a prosecutor.
In one of those shootings, investigators believe a man was killed in retaliation for another killing almost exactly one year ago. Now the father of the victim of the 2023 killing is charged with one from this weekend.
On Saturday evening, a shooting was reported in the parking lot of Pioneer Park near Holly Street and East 60th Avenue. When police arrived, a man, later identified as 27-year-old Malcolm Watson, was found dead at the scene and officers detained Lumumba Sayers, 45. Investigators say Sayers "made the spontaneous statement, "I wasn't the only one who shot.'"
The arresting officer wrote in his report that he saw a black semi-automatic pistol and a loaded magazine lying on the ground near Watson.
Witnesses told police that Watson was attending a child's birthday party at the water park at Pioneer Park and as Watson was leaving, Sayers walked up to him and shot him in the head at close range, according to the arrest report. A crime scene investigator found four spent shell casings near Watson's body and three gunshot wounds.
One witness reported a second shooter, who police say they saw on security camera footage from the park. That witness told police that after the shooting, the second shooter yelled "I got you, m**********r," according to the arrest report.
Witnesses told police that after the shooting, Sayers returned to his SUV, retrieved a second gun and tried to fire it, but that it "jammed."
Police say that video taken by witnesses shows Sayers placing that second handgun under Watson's body.
Investigators believe Sayers killed Watson in "retaliation or revenge" for the death of his son, Lumumba Sayers Jr., who had been killed on Aug. 18, 2023. It was not clear whether Watson was suspected of killing his son, but no one has been convicted in that case.
The elder Sayers was taken to the hospital after complaining of medical issues and then booked into the Adams County Detention Facility on charges of first-degree murder and felony aggravated menacing. He's being held on a $1 million bond and is due back in court on Thursday.
Several years ago, the elder Sayers founded a nonprofit called Heavy Hands Heavy Hearts, which worked to unite former rival gang members and combat gun violence. At the time, he was considered a leader in the movement to stop youth violence in the Denver metro area.
"I can never get tired of helping the youth and helping the people in the community change their life and do things differently," he said at an anti-violence event in 2020.
At that same event, his son said, "it's just surprising, just all of this violence and stuff, we just want it to stop."
