Teens Who Set House on Fire Killing Immigrant Family of 5 To Be Tried as Adults

Two 16-year-olds will face charges as adults after setting fire to a house that killed five people in Green Valley Ranch in Denver last year.

Arrest and charges: Kevin Bui and Gavin Seymour, two of the three arrested teens connected to the fire that killed members of an immigrant family in August 2020, have been charged as adults, prosecutors said on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

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Bui and Seymour face a total of 60 counts split between several charges, including “first-degree murder with extreme indifference, attempted murder with extreme indifference, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon,” according to KDVR.
The Denver District Attorney’s office is also looking to charge a 15-year-old connected to the fire with 47 counts as a juvenile. However, prosecutors are looking for a way for the teen to face trial as an adult.
Tanya Bui, the older sister of Kevin, was arrested on the same day as the three teens on Jan. 27. She is facing unrelated firearm and drug charges, having been found with a handgun, seven pounds of marijuana and 500 pills suspected to be narcotics.

One of the teens confessed they intended to set a different house on fire but targeted the wrong one, CBS Denver reported.
“It is a such a horrible crime to where I think they should not be allowed to be charged as anything other than adults,” Amadou Dieng, a spokesperson of the family and close friend of the victims said about the charges. “We do hope the book is thrown at them, and they get the longest sentence possible.”
“We lost five people. We will never see them again,” he added. “We talk about baby Hawa, she [will] never [be] able to meet her dad. She was barely eight months old.”

Gruesome death: The fire occurred before 3 a.m. on Aug. 5 at 5312 N. Truckee St. in Green Valley Ranch.

A 7-month-old infant, 1-year-old toddler and three adults, aged 23, 25 and 29, died in the house fire.
Three other residents of the house — a man, woman and a child — were able to escape the burning house.
“Just knowing Djibril, how hard he worked, the late nights he would stay to get his engineering degree,” Ousman Ba, the former college roommate of the 29-year-old victim, Djibril Diol, said. “To see the smile on his face when he got that degree and to see someone take that away.”

Featured Image via Denver County District Attorney

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