(NEW YORK) — The 17-year-old who has been charged in the Brooklyn gas station killing of professional dancer O’Shae Sibley, allegedly uttered homophobic slurs before the July 29 stabbing, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the complaint, “a confidential witness … did hear that defendant and the defendant’s associates use homophobic slurs towards a group of approximately five men and state, in sum and substance, ‘stop dancing here, we are Muslim, get that get s— out of here.'”
The teen was arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court on second-degree murder, second-degree murder as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. He is being held without bail. The teen is scheduled for another court appearance later Monday.
In a video posted to Facebook, Sibley’s friend Otis Pena said he and Sibley were among a group of friends that were voguing and dancing at the gas station while pumping gas when they were confronted by another group.
The group allegedly hurled homophobic slurs and anti-Black statements at Sibley’s group while demanding that they stop dancing, according to NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny. Police have not said what anti-Black statements were made. After about four minutes, the confrontation then turned violent, Kenny said.
The perpetrator struck Sibley with a sharp object on the left side of his ribcage, “piercing his chest and damaging his heart,” Kenny said. The suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, but was quickly identified with the help of tips from citizens, officials said.
Officials say the teen was identified by detectives early on, using video, by working with other city agencies and people from the neighborhood. After a week of attempting to bring him in, the teen turned himself in through an arrangement with his lawyer, police said.
Sibley died “of a stab wound of the chest with injury to the heart,” according to the complaint, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
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