Denver teen sentenced to 40 years in prison for house fire that killed 5 from Senegal

Gavin Seymour was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Friday. The teenager had earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the deadly arson attack on Truckee Street in Denver’s Green Valley Ranch vicinity.

The house fire on Aug. 5, 2020, killed Djibril Diol, his wife Adja, and their 2-year-old daughter, alongside with Hassan Diol and her infant daughter Hawa Beye, all Senegalese immigrants. Three people fled by jumping from windows.

The motivation was an alleged desire for retaliation over something that had been stolen from another of the suspected killers, Kevin Bui. Bui has yet to be tried in the case and has an arraignment scheduled for March 21.

He is also facing first-degree murder charges and tons of other possible charges. Prosecutors say he confessed he was pursuing revenge for a stolen cellphone, which he traced with an app to the wrong address, which was the residence on Truckee Street, where the victims had no link to the stolen cell phone or Bui.