DENVER — One of three teenagers accused of starting a house fire in Denver that killed five people — apparently in revenge for a stolen cell phone that was wrongly traced to the home — was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison.
Gavin Seymour, 19, pleaded guilty in January to first-degree murder for his role in the Aug. 5, 2020, fire that killed five members of a Senegalese family. Denver District Court Judge Karen Brody sentenced him to the maximum possible sentence, The Denver Post reported.
“This is a tragedy that, I am sure to everyone involved, is incomprehensible,” Brody said. “There was a loss of the most innocent lives.”
Seymour and two other teenagers – Kevin Bui and Dillon Siebert – were accused of setting a fire in the middle of the night that killed family members Djibril Diol, 29; Adja Diol, 23; Khadija Diol, 1; Hassan Diol, 25; and six-month-old Hawa Baye. Three other people escaped by jumping from the second floor of the house.
Siebert, who was 14 at the time of the fire, was 17 when he was sentenced in February 2023 to three years in juvenile detention and seven years in the state prison program for young inmates. Seymour and Bui, who are accused of being the ringleader, were both 16 years old at the time of the fire. The case against Bui, who faces multiple charges of first-degree murder, is still pending.
The investigation into the fire dragged on for months without any trace. Fears that the fire was a hate crime prompted many Senegalese immigrants to install security cameras at their homes in case they too could be targeted.
“Even if you kill five sheep or goats, you should receive a maximum sentence,” family member Hanady Diol told the court Friday through an interpreter on the phone from Senegal. “This person here is talking about 40 or 30 years. That just means there is no justice. There is no judgment that the people who died are human beings.”
The boys were identified as suspects after police obtained a search warrant asking Google to identify accounts that had searched the home’s address within 15 days of the fire.
Bui told investigators that he had been robbed the month before the fire while trying to buy a gun and that he had tracked his iPhone to the house using an app, according to court records. He admitted to setting the fire, but found out through news reports the next day that the victims were not the people who robbed him, police said.
Attorneys for Seymour and Bui challenged the search warrant, but the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the search. According to The Denver Post, Bui is scheduled to appear in court on March 21.
Seymour apologized in court on Friday for his role in the fire.
“If I could go back and prevent all this, I would,” he said. “Not a moment goes by that I don’t feel extreme guilt and remorse for my actions. … I want to say how sorry I am to the family members and the community for all the harm I have caused.”