A Colorado teen learned his fate Friday for his role in a deadly blaze that was intentionally set at a family home in 2020.
Gavin Seymour, 19, was sentenced to 40 years behind bars for acting under his friend Kevin Bui’s direction and setting a home ablaze in the middle of the night in August 2020.
Bui mistakenly thought that someone living in the home stole his phone and sought retaliation when he, Seymour, and Dillon Siebert, now 18, planned the fire for weeks.
Senegalese family members Djibril Diol, 29; wife Adja Diol, 23; and daughter Khadija Diol, 1, all perished in the fire along with Djibril’s sister Hassan Diol, 25, and her infant daughter Hawa Baye, 6-month-old.
“If I could go back and prevent all this I would,” Seymour said in court. “There is not a moment that goes by that I don’t feel extreme guilt and remorse for my actions.”
Denver Police Detective Neil Baker said in court that the horrific, deadly crime was “senseless” and the perpetrators deserved the maximum punishment.
“This is by far the worst, most senseless murder investigation I have ever investigated,” he said.
“I can’t think of any other one that is more deserving of a maximum sentence allowed…There are five victims. Two were babies.”
