The 17-year-old suspected in the stabbing of O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay man, pleaded not guilty in court on Friday to a murder charge that was deemed a hate crime by the district attorney who concluded the crime was motivated by anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ bias.
The fatal stabbing took place after taunts and confrontation stemming from a group of men dancing shirtless to Beyoncé while they filled up their tank at a New York City gas station, prosecutors said Thursday.
“It’s clear to me, under the circumstances of this case, that in substantial part, this attack was caused because people were offended by Mr. Sibley and his friends dancing and celebrating,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, NBC News reports.
The teen is being tried as an adult and is facing second-degree murder charges that could land him a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. The additional hate crime count could raise the minimum sentence from 15 years to 20. The judge ordered the suspect to continue to be held without bail at a juvenile detention center.
Security footage from the night of the murder shows the 28-year-old professional dancer and choreographer was killed while vogueing to a Beyoncé song at a Brooklyn gas station.
Another group then began taunting Sibley and his friends and the footage shows the two groups arguing before they both walk away.
“They began to use derogatory names and use homophobic slurs against them,” said Assistant Chief Joe Kenny of the NYPD detective bureau according to the Gothamist. “They also made anti-Black statements.”
The footage, which was used to identify the suspect, then shows Sibley following and lunging at one of the other men before being fatally stabbed in the ribs, NBC News reports.
“Defending yourself from the anti-gay or anti-Black comments, arguing back, it’s not a cause for someone to take a weapon and do what was done in this case,” the prosecutor explained.
Sibley, 28, was a dancer with the Philadanco dance company and took classes at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Ailey Extension program. He also performed in productions like, “Soft: A Love Letter to Black Queer Men,” choreographed by Kemar Jewel.
Sibley’s death has made the queer community feel even less safe at a time when homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and violence is surging and anti-LGBTQ+ laws are being adopted across the country.
