Teen Getting 10 Years For Fire That Killed 5 From Senegal

DENVER, Colo. — A surveillance camera captured three people outside in full face masks and hoodies looking around the home’s backyard where members of three families of Senegalese immigrants lived minutes before a major house fire erupted and killed five people in 2020.

The investigation into the Aug. 5, 2020 fire dragged on for months amid fears that it was a hate crime, but authorities eventually accused three teens of setting fire to the house in retaliation for a stolen iPhone, which one of them mistakenly traced to the home in a neighborhood near Denver’s airport.

Screams could be heard, and a husband, wife, and their 12-year-old daughter escaped by jumping out an upstairs window, but five people were found dead inside the home after the fire in 2020.

Despite the objections of victims’ families and representatives of the city’s Senegalese community, the youngest of the teens charged in the case, Dillon Siebert, 14 at the time and now 17, was sentenced to seven years in prison him to serve three years in juvenile detention. Siebert, who was charged as a juvenile, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in adult court in a deal that prosecutors and the defense said balanced his lesser role in the fire’s planning, his remorse, and interest in rehabilitation with the horror of the crime.

The cases against the other two teenagers, including the alleged teen ringleader, Kevin Bui, and Gavin Seymour, both of whom were 16 at the time of the fire, are still pending in adult court, where they face charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder, arson, and burglary.

The Teen Tried to Immigrate

Amadou Beye, who lost his wife, Hassan Diol, and their infant daughter, Hawa, in the fire, called Siebert a “monster” and claimed that he killed not only five people but also himself and many others connected to them. Beye, whose wife was allowed to immigrate to the United States before him, claims he considers suicide every day and requires medication to sleep.

“My life no longer makes sense,” Beye said, wearing a sweatshirt with a large photo of his wife and baby and the words, “Why my wife? “Why, my daughter?” Judge Martin Egelhoff asked.

Hassan Diol’s brother Djibril, his wife Adja Diol, and their 22-month-old daughter Khadija were also killed. Their bodies were discovered on the first floor, near the front door. Teen Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, expressed condolences for their deaths, and as months passed with no suspects identified, many Senegalese immigrants installed surveillance cameras in their homes.

Others talked about the hole that was left by the death of Djibril Diol, an engineer who was working on a major rebuild of Interstate 70 in the city and who wanted to build roads in Senegal. He teen helped other immigrants and was a devout Muslim, they said, rising early for morning prayers.

Abou Diol, Djibril Diol’s brother, said he lost the person he relied on for sound advice and that their father has “lost his mind” since the fire.

The Man Says “Black Lives Dont Matter”

Ousman Ba, a friend and community leader, said 10 years was insufficient punishment for such a crime and wondered what would have happened if five members of a white family had been murdered in this manner.

“However, Black lives do not matter,” he said.

Siebert looked at family and friends of the teen as they addressed Egelhoff, but he showed no emotion. When asked to speak, he apologized for what he had done to them and their families, mentioning how upset he was when his grandmother died shortly before the fire and could not see her due to coronavirus restrictions.

“I’m lucky I still have people who love me,” Siebert said, describing himself as a “people pleaser” who was bullied over a speech delay and became friends with Bui and Seymour amid the pandemic’s isolation.

Bui, who was identified as a suspect alongside the others after police asked the Google company to release the name of the person who searched for the home’s address within 15 days of the fire, allegedly told investigators he was robbed a month before the fire while trying to buy a gun and traced his Samsung phone to the home using an app. He admitted to starting the fire, only to learn the next day through news coverage that the victims were not the people who robbed him.

Lawyers for Bui and Seymour are challenging police use of Google keyword search results, describing it as a “digital dragnet” that swept up searches from billions of people worldwide.

Last year, Egelhoff denied a request to have the Google search teen evidence thrown out, but defense attorneys have now asked the Colorado Supreme Court to hear the case. It is expected to hear arguments in May.

SOURCE – (AP)