Teenagers To Be Tried As Adults In 2020 Deadly Arson At Denver House

DENVER (CBS4) - After a day long preliminary hearing a Denver District Court Judge ordered two teens to be bound over for trial as adults on all counts in an arson case. Five Senegalese people died and three others escaped from the fire.

There was little doubt from the beginning the deadly Aug. 5, 2020 fire on Truckee Street in Denver's Green Valley Ranch neighborhood was deliberately set. The question was how to find who did it.

Security camera video from a neighbor captured the hooded, masked suspects and a car.
Police went to work with a subpoena to Google for whoever may have sought out the location of the house in advance.

"Looking at who has searched this particular address and they can get this information from Google with a search warrant," District Attorney Beth McCann told CBS4.

The search led to the suspects Kevin Bui, Gavin Seymour and a third juvenile.. Their movements
in the area of the traced on video and cell phone data.

When interviewed by law enforcement Bui admitted to the crime and told police why that particular house was targeted. He said he had been robbed of his phone in City Park.

In a text message to his sister he wrote, "They gonna get theirs like I got mine."

Using an app, Bui located his phone at the Truckee Street address, but the people who lived there had no ties to it.

McCann said outside the courtroom, "It seems to be totally senseless and avoidable and terribly tragic."

From the security camera photo police were able to determine where the masks were bought tying it to the suspects. For those who knew the victims, the testimony at this hearing may have helped answer questions, but cannot bring the victims back.