Teen charged with murder as hate crime in killing of NYC dancer O’Shae Sibley

A 17-year-old has been charged with murder as a hate crime in the death of dancer O’Shae Sibley, according to the New York Police Department.

The 17-year-old allegedly stabbed and killed Sibley Saturday night at a Brooklyn gas station. Officials said Sibley, a 28-year-old Black gay man, was headed home from New Jersey with friends at the gas station that night, waiting to refuel their car. While waiting, he and his friends began reportedly voguing to music by Beyoncé from the car and then faced another man telling them to stop. More men joined the other man in demanding Sibley and his friends stop dancing, which resulted in a “verbal dispute” between the two groups.

“As the group began to yell at Mr. Sibley and his friends, they began to call them derogatory names and used homophobic slurs against him,” NYPD Assistant Chief Joe Kenny said at a press conference Saturday. “They also made anti-Black statements, all while demanding that they simply stop dancing.”

“This encounter lasts for approximately four minutes, when the victim and the known perpetrator come together,” Kenny continued. “This perpetrator retreats away from Mr. Sibley, while striking him one time with a sharp object, piercing his chest and damaging his heart. Mr. Sibley falls to the sidewalk while the perpetrator flees the scene in a Toyota Highlander.”

Officials said the 17-year-old suspect’s identification happened “quickly,” saying he lives in Brooklyn and is a student at a “nearby high school.” He is also being charged with criminal possession of a weapon.