(DailyChive.com) – Denver teenager Gavin Seymour (19) received a 40-year prison sentence for his role in a house fire that killed five members of a Senegalese family in August 2020. Seymour pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January, taking responsibility for his participation in the devastating incident.
Fueled by a misguided revenge plot, the fire erupted in the middle of the night. Investigators believe the teenagers targeted the house after a stolen cellphone was mistakenly traced there. The blaze killed five members of the Diol family – three other residents escaped by jumping from the second floor.
Seymour is one of three teenagers charged in the case. Dillon Siebert, who was 14 at the time of the fire, was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention followed by seven years in a specialized state prison program for young offenders. Kevin Bui, allegedly the mastermind behind the plot, awaits trial on multiple counts of first-degree murder.
The tragedy sparked outrage within the Senegalese community, with relatives expressing deep dissatisfaction with the sentences. Hanady Diol, a relative of the victims, voiced regret over the lack of harsher punishment. Speaking through a translator over the phone from Senegal, she noted that even people who kill animals receive stricter sentences. These young men took human lives, she argued, and the sentence fails to reflect the gravity of their actions.
The investigation that identified the teenagers involved obtaining a search warrant for Google accounts that had searched the address in the weeks leading up to the fire. According to court documents, Bui, believing his phone had been stolen during an attempted gun purchase, used a tracking app to locate it at the Diol residence. He admitted to setting the fire but later discovered, through news reports, that the occupants were not responsible for the theft.
Seymour and Bui’s attorneys challenged the search warrant, but the Colorado Supreme Court upheld its validity.
During the sentencing hearing, Seymour expressed remorse and offered an apology. He said that if he could undo everything, he would. He conveyed his constant guilt and regret for his actions, deeply apologizing to the victims’ families and community for the pain he caused.
Copyright 2024, DailyChive.com
