Suspect identified in death of gay man who was stabbed for voguing at Brooklyn gas station

Police have reportedly identified the 17-year-old suspected of stabbing a gay dancer to death at a Brooklyn gas station over the weekend. The is being investigated as a hate crime.

On Saturday night, 28-year-old dancer and choreographer O’Shae Sibley and several friends pulled up to a gas station in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood. The group was reportedly voguing to a Beyoncé song while waiting for their car to fill up when another group of young men exiting the station’s convenience store began harassing them.

Related:

Gay man stabbed to death after confrontation with homophobes who said he offended their religion

Police are investigating the murder of 28-year-old dancer O’Shae Sibley as a possible hate crime.

Surveillance video of the altercation shows Sibley, in light pink shorts, and friends exchanging heated words with the young men. The suspect can be seen in a black t-shirt and red shorts recording the interaction with his phone. A witness told Pix11 that the suspect may have made anti-LGBTQ+ comments.

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“He had a problem with them dancing, he wanted them to stop dancing, he started arguing with them. And then after a few fights and back and forth arguing, he pulled out a knife and stabbed him,” Sayeda Haider, who witnessed the encounter, told NBC New York.

In an interview with the New York Times, Kemar Jewel, a director and choreographer who worked with Sibley, said that Otis Pena, who was among Sibley’s friends at the gas station, had described the scene to him. Pena said that he and Sibley had told the other group of young men, “Stop saying that. There is nothing wrong with being gay.”

Another witness, Summy Ullah, told the New York Daily News that the young men cited their Muslim faith in objecting to Sibley and his friends’ dancing.

Law enforcement sources told NBC New York that the suspect, who was reportedly known for causing trouble at the station, fled the scene in a black SUV and remains at large. According to CBS New York, investigators now know the name of the suspect, though they have not released that information to the media.

Sibley was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

“They murdered him because he’s gay, because he stood up for his friends,” Pena said in an emotional video posted to Facebook. “We as a community don’t deserve this. We may be gay, but we exist. We’re not going to live in fear. We’re not going to live hiding.”

At a Monday news conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams addressed Sibley’s death.

“Now, you have an incident like we saw over the weekend with this young man who was experiencing that hate crime, and we will find the person responsible,” Adams said. “It shakes our confidence when you have someone that randomly assaults someone, who could have a real mental health issue, on the streets. It shakes your confidence.”

On Monday, out state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D) tweeted that he was “Heartbroken and enraged to learn about O’Shae Sibley’s death this weekend in New York.”

“Despite homophobes’ best efforts, gay joy is not crime. Hate-fueled attacks are,” he wrote.

Heartbroken and enraged to learn about O'Shae Sibley's death this weekend in New York. Despite homophobes' best efforts, gay joy is not crime. Hate-fueled attacks are.https://t.co/XiPuzEgn6T

— Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (@bradhoylman) July 31, 2023

“O’Shae Sibley was killed by a group of men for voguing at a gas station in Brooklyn,” out New York City Councilman Erik Bottcher tweeted. “They used anti-gay slurs against him. He stood up for himself. They murdered him. This was a hate crime, and the people who did this must be brought to justice.”

O’Shae Sibley was killed by a group of men for voguing at a gas station in Brooklyn. They used anti-gay slurs against him. He stood up for himself. They murdered him. This was a hate crime, and the people who did this must be brought to justice.https://t.co/4h8GtVJwWN

— Erik Bottcher (@ebottcher) August 1, 2023

In a statement, Anti-Violence Project executive director Beverly Tillery noted that “even in New York City, LGBTQ+ people are still subjected to increased violence, simply for being themselves.”

“Anti-LGBTQ+ bias can turn deadly, and we must all work to eliminate it from our society,” Tillery continued. “O’Shae deserved the right to dance, to be free and unapologetically queer — without fear.”

Friends and family described Sibley, who moved from Philadelphia to Brooklyn in 2019, as always dancing. He performed with Philadelphia’s Philadanco dance company and was featured in Jewel’s 2021 video “Soft: A Love Letter to Black Queer Men.” He was also featured in Jacolby Satterwhite’s digital media exhibition “An Electric Dance to the Movement of Time,” which was shown at Lincoln Center in 2022, and worked with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Ailey Extension.

“It was a senseless crime,” Sibley’s aunt Tondra Sibley told the Times. “O’Shae has always been a peacemaker. All he wanted to do was dance.”