DENVER (KDVR) — Two 16-year-olds are facing adult charges for allegedly murdering five people and burning down the home they lived in in Green Valley Ranch last summer.
The fire began just before 3 a.m. at 5312 N. Truckee St. on Aug. 5. An infant, toddler and three adults were killed.
Three other people — a man, woman and child — jumped from the second story of the burning home and survived.
One teen, Kevin Bui, is facing a total of 60 counts split between several charges that included first degree murder with extreme indifference, attempted murder with extreme indifference, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon.
The other 16-year-old, Gavin Seymour, is facing the same counts.
A 15-year-old boy was also arrested for his alleged involvement. According to Denver District Attorney he will be charged with 47 counts as a juvenile although the DA is pushing to have his case moved out of juvenile court so he can be tried as an adult.
A woman, Tanya Bui, arrested the same day as the three teens is facing unrelated gun and drug charges. According to police she is related to one of the teenage suspects in the arson and murder.
FOX31 spoke with close friends and family advocates of the victims about this decision. See the video below:
“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 said, adding, “We do hope the book is thrown at them, and they get the longest sentence possible.”
Dieng, a family spokesperson and close friend to the victims says this latest update is what they needed to hear to start the healing process.
“We lost five people. We will never see them again,” Dieng said, adding, “We talk about baby Hawa, she [will] never [be] able to meet her dad. She was barely eight months old.”
“Just knowing Djibril, how hard he worked, the late nights he would stay to get his engineering degree,” the victim’s former college roommate Ousman Ba said, adding, “To see the smile on his face when he got that degree and to see someone take that away.”