Teen arrested, charged in stabbing
A young person was arrested and charged with homicide as a hate crime in the stabbing death of O’Shae Sibley, a gay man who was fatally stabbed in a confrontation at a Brooklyn gas station, authorities mentioned Saturday.
Police mentioned Sibley, a 28-year-old skilled choreographer, was stabbed to dying July 29 after the confrontation between a gaggle of buddies dancing to a Beyoncé track and one other group of younger males who taunted them with derogatory slurs.
A 17-year-old suspect, who wasn’t named, was in custody and was dealing with a cost of homicide within the second diploma, charged as a hate crime, and prison possession of a weapon, the New York Police Division introduced at a information convention Saturday.
Sibley’s dying has drawn nationwide consideration and outrage amongst New York Metropolis’s LGBTQ group after authorities mentioned they had been investigating the case as a potential hate crime. Beyoncé and filmmaker Spike Lee both paid tribute to Sibley online.
Sibley and a gaggle of buddies had been at a Brooklyn gasoline station and dancing to music enjoying from a automotive once they had been approached by one other group of younger males who advised them to cease dancing and “harassed” them, in keeping with Joseph Kenny, assistant chief of the Detective Bureau.
Kenny mentioned investigators interviewed witnesses and checked out video footage to find out that the group, together with the suspect, used “derogatory” language, together with homophobic and anti-Black slurs towards Sibley and his buddies.
Kenny mentioned the teams had a verbal confrontation that turned bodily and lasted for about 4 minutes. The suspect and Sibley “come collectively” in battle earlier than the suspect retreated whereas “hanging” Sibley as soon as within the chest, Kenny mentioned. The suspect then fled.
Mayor Eric Adams mentioned Sibley’s life was misplaced to one thing “clearly that was a hate crime.”
‘REST IN POWER’:Beyoncé, Spike Lee pay tribute to O’Shae Sibley, stabbed while dancing
Sibley, from Philadelphia, carried out with the dance firm Philadanco. He was additionally a part of the New York Metropolis home and ballroom LGBTQ tradition, in keeping with Lee Soulja Simmons, govt director of the New York Metropolis Heart for Black Delight.
“We wrestle with this dying. We wrestle with hate crimes. We wrestle with individuals in our group consistently dealing with discrimination not simply since you’re Black however since you symbolize LGBT,” Simmons mentioned Saturday. “He didn’t should die in that means.”
One witness of the confrontation, Summy Ullah, mentioned in interviews that the individuals in battle with Sibley’s group complained that Sibley and his buddies’ conduct offended them as Muslims. Some leaders of the world’s Muslim group condemned the slaying.
“The load of this loss is felt deeply, not simply by the household and buddies of O’Shae, however by all of us who worth life, peace and justice,” Soniya Ali, the manager director of the Muslim Neighborhood Heart, mentioned Saturday.
Contributing: The Related Press