One of three teenagers responsible for starting a fire in Denver’s Green Valley Ranch neighborhood that killed five people was sentenced Friday, The Denver Post reported.
Gavin Seymour, 19, was sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder for his role in the August 5, 2020 fire. The fire destroyed the lives of Senegalese immigrants, including Djibril Diol (29), Aja Diol (23), Khadijah Diol (1), Hassan Diol (25), and 6-month-old Hawa Baye. Five family members died. Denver District Court Judge Karen Brody sentenced Seymour to the maximum sentence. according to To the Denver Post.
A 19-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison for starting a house fire that killed five members of a Senegalese family in Denver’s Green Valley Ranch neighborhood more than three years ago. https://t.co/YFLtQf1mtg
— Denver Post (@denverpost) March 15, 2024
“This is a tragedy and I think it’s incomprehensible for everyone involved,” Brody said, according to a report in the Denver Post. “The most innocent lives were lost.”
Seymour expresses regret over the verdict
“If I could go back in time and stop all of this, I would,” he said, according to the Denver Post. “There is not a moment that goes by that I don’t feel extreme guilt and remorse for my actions. I want to say to my family and community that I am truly sorry for all the harm I have caused.”
The fire that destroyed the family’s home was reportedly a misguided attempt at revenge. Seymour, Kevin Bui and Dillon Siebert, who were all teenagers at the time, used a stolen iPhone as a trigger to set their house on fire, the paper said. The newspaper said it took months for authorities to find any clues in the case. The newspaper said the investigation turned to the suspect after a court granted police access to Google records to find out who had searched the home’s address in the two weeks before the incident.
Bui had reported a robbery a month before the incident when he tried to buy a gun, the newspaper reported, citing court documents. He reportedly found the iPhone at his home using a tracking app. Bui admitted to arson, but he learned on the news the next day that he was the wrong target, the Denver Post reported. (Related: Louisiana man charged with arson that killed 3 children)
Siebert, who was 14 at the time of the fire, was sentenced in February 2023, when he was 17, to three years in a juvenile facility and then seven years in the state’s juvenile offender program, according to the Denver Post. . Mr Seymour and Mr Bui, the latter of whom is said to have led the plot, were 16 years old at the time, the paper said. Bui is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and is currently on trial, scheduled to appear in court on March 21, 2024.
