OAN’s Abril Elfi
12:24 PM – Saturday, March 16, 2024
A 19-year-old has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after starting a house fire that killed five people in Denver, Colorado.
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On Friday, Gavin Seymour was sentenced after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the deadly arson attack on Truckee Street in Denver’s Green Valley Ranch neighborhood.
Denver District Court Judge Karen Brody sentenced Seymour to the maximum possible sentence he faced.
“This is a tragedy that, I’m sure for everyone involved, is incomprehensible,” Brody said. “There was a loss of the most innocent of lives.”
Djibril Diol, his wife Adja, and their 2-year-old daughter, as well as Hassan Diol and her infant daughter Hawa Beye, who were all immigrants from Senegal, were all killed in the house fire on August 5th, 2020.
Three others jumped out of windows and escaped.
The purported motive stemmed from something that had allegedly been taken from Kevin Bui, another accused killer.
Bui’s arraignment is set for March 21st, and he has not yet been tried in this case.
In addition to numerous other possible charges, he is still being investigated for first-degree murder. The prosecution claims he acknowledged using an app to track a stolen phone to the incorrect address—the Truckee Street home, where the victims had no connection to either Bui or the stolen phone—and that he was seeking retribution.
Investigators claim that the three suspects—dressed in hoodies and masks—broke into the house, smeared gasoline throughout it, and then started the fire.
Dillon Siebert, the third suspect, was 14 years old when the crime was committed and was prosecuted in juvenile court.
After entering a guilty plea to a charge of second-degree murder more than a year ago, Siebert was ultimately sentenced to seven years in district court and three more years in juvenile court as a juvenile offender.
Seymour apologized for his actions in court on Friday.
“If I could go back and prevent all this, I would,” he said. “There is not a moment that goes by that I don’t feel extreme guilt and remorse for my actions. I want to say how truly sorry I am to the family members and community for all the harm I’ve done.”
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