On Friday, one of the three adolescents who killed five innocent immigrants, including two little children, while believing they were torching the home of the robbers, was dealt a cruel blow.
Gavin Seymour, 19, was given a 40-year prison sentence by a Denver judge for the fire that occurred on August 5, 2020. Authorities claim that at the age of sixteen, Seymour, Kevin Bui, who was also sixteen, and Dillon Siebert, who was fifteen at the time, wanted retribution on the individuals who had taken Bui’s phone during a heroin sale.
An arrest affidavit states that the three somehow came to believe the robbers were residents of a house in Denver’s Green Valley Ranch neighborhood.
They obtained hockey-style masks from a costume store, got in via the back door of the house using gasoline-filled canisters, coated the walls with accelerant, lit the house on fire, and fled. The house soon caught fire in its entirety.
When the neighboring police officer noticed the fire, he attempted to force entry via the front door, but the smoke and flames were too powerful. From a second-story window, three people leaped to safety.
However, five individuals were discovered dead at the front door of the house: Djibril “Jibby” Diol, his 23-year-old wife Adja, their 21-month-old daughter Khadija, Diol’s sister Hassan, and her 6-month-old baby Hawa Beye. They were not involved in Bui’s robbery.
Through their cell phones, the police claimed to have been able to locate Seymour, Bui, and Siebert at the scene.
Authorities claimed that the accused were also seen on camera at the store where they purchased the masks. Authorities detained the trio in January 2021 on numerous counts, encompassing first-degree murder and arson.
Attorneys brought sixty counts against Seymour. In January, he entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder in exchange for the dismissal of the remaining 59 charges and a predetermined sentencing range of 16 to 40 years.
Family member Hapsa Ba stated, “You don’t deserve jail – you deserve the death penalty – but since we don’t have that in Colorado – give the maximum.”
Senegalese caller Hamady Diol attended the hearing. He lost his son, daughter, and grandchildren in the fire.
“I’m powerless. I’m unlearned — but know that the people you killed they couldn’t even kill a fly,” he stated through a translator. “The people you killed were my hope and life. Know you haven’t just killed five people — myself and their mother — we’re breathing — but we’re dead.”
“I relive August 5th, 2020, every day I wake up,” Seymour stated. “I want to apologize for my role in the arson. There is not a moment I don’t feel remorse. I wish it was me instead of them.”
Despite giving in to peer pressure, his parents claim he is a nice young man.
Stephanie Tyler, his mother, stated that, “This tragedy does not define his soul, Gavin is not a monster — He made a grave decision. He is ready to atone.”
Judge Karen Brody of Denver District Court ultimately sentenced Seymour to the maximum number of years allowed by the plea deal.
According to the Denver Post, Brody stated, “This is a tragedy that is, I’m sure for everyone involved, incomprehensible, There was a loss of the most innocent of lives.”
According to KUSA, Siebert was given a seven-year sentence in juvenile jail and could receive a 26-year suspended sentence if he breaks his parole. Bui is expected in court on Thursday. His case is still pending.
