Lumumba Sayers Jr., a 23-year-old MMA fighter, has been named as one of the victims, who was killed in a fatal shooting in Denver on Saturday morning.

The shooting occurred early Saturday morning near the intersection of 28th Street and Welton in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. He was from the area and actively collaborated with his father to address juvenile violence.

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Who was Lumumba Sayers Jr?

Lumumba Sayers Jr was 23 years old. He was an MMA fighter. Lumumba Sayers Sr in a statement said, “He’s the founder of the Gloves Up Guns Down: Get Your Heads Up in the Hood movement. He was stopping a lot of the violence here in the community. Putting on boxing matches and stuff and showing these kids that there’s a different way. He ran my moving company for me, that was my best friend,” while talking about his son.

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In addition to his accomplishments in mixed martial arts and his community service, Lumumba Sayers Jr. was a family man and the father of a two-month-old son. Though Lumumba Sayers Jr. was even more talented than he was, Lumumba Sayers Sr. looked back on his son’s MMA career with fondness.

Sayers Sr. in a statement said, “This coward shot my son, he shot my son, man. The community that we protect, you know, we try to provide for, the community that he tried to help guide in a different direction that he grew up in, they killed my son. My son wasn’t no gang banger. He wasn’t no drug dealer. He wasn’t no troublemaker. My son was following after my footsteps.”

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Sayers Sr. also added that after everything he did to try and reduce gun violence in the Denver metro area, his son’s death is a slap in the face.