The teen has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime. (Representational)
New York:
A 17-year-old high school student in New York has been charged with murder as a hate crime in the stabbing death of a Black gay dancer, authorities said Saturday, in a case that has attracted attention from stars like Beyonce and Spike Lee.
O’Shae Sibley, 28, a professional dancer and choreographer, was killed on July 29 by a single stab wound to the chest during an altercation at a Brooklyn gas station.
“He could be my son,” New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is Black, said at a news conference at the gas station where the suspect’s arrest was announced.
The teen, who was not named, surrendered on Friday evening, said Joseph Kenny, an assistant chief at the New York Police Department’s detective bureau.
He was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, and with criminal possession of a weapon.
The deadly confrontation late last Saturday night was captured on camera, showing Sibley and several other men shirtless and wearing shorts at the gas station.
“As they waited to refuel their vehicle, Mr Sibley and his group began dancing to music that was being played in their car,” Kenny said.
The suspect and others in his group “began to yell at Mr Sibley and his friends, they began to call him derogatory names and use homophobic slurs against him,” Kenny said.
“They also made anti-Black statements, all while demanding that they simply stop dancing.”
The confrontation lasted four minutes, ending when Sibley was stabbed once in the chest, hitting his heart. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Tributes have poured in for Sibley, including from superstar singer Beyonce whose website opened with the message: “Rest in Power O’Shae Sibley.”
Filmmaker Lee posted a photo on Instagram of Sibley dancing joyfully against a rainbow background.
“Always loved,” the caption said, adding the hashtag #saytheirnames, a phrase calling attention to victims of systemic racism and racial injustice.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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