Seventeen-year-old Dmitriy Popov was arrested and charged this past Friday, Aug. 4, for the hate crime murder of professional dancer O’Shae Leon Sibley in Brooklyn two weeks ago.
Sibley was fatally stabbed in front of a Midwood gas station July 29 around 11 p.m. He was voguing—a competitive dance historically fashioned by queer Black and brown New Yorkers—to Beyonce’s “Renaissance” played from inside the car he and his friends were filling up before the incident. They were returning to the city from a birthday party in New Jersey.
According to the criminal complaint, Popov and his associates allegedly approached Sibley and his four friends, summarily telling them to “stop dancing here, we are Muslim. Get that gay sh** out of here.” Homophobic slurs were also allegedly hurled, according to the document. NYPD Assistant Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny says anti-Black statements were also uttered.
The exchange lasted for around four minutes. Sibley was then stabbed in the torso. He was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after midnight.
This past Saturday, Mayor Eric Adams addressed potential tensions stemming from the incident between the city’s LGBTQ+ and Muslim communities. But Popov is reportedly a Christian, according to his lawyer and grandmother.
“Apprehension took place because every day New Yorkers contributed basic information we needed to identify and to apprehend,” said Mayor Adams. “The issue itself made an attempt to give the impression that it came from hate from the Muslim community towards the LGBTQ+ community, that was in fact not true.”
Sibley is originally from Philadelphia, but was living in Brownsville, according to police. He was reportedly laid to rest in his hometown this past Tuesday, Aug. 8. He was gay, according to his friend Otis Pena, who was present at the stabbing and recounted the incident over Facebook Live.
According to GLAAD, Sibley is one of at least five LGBTQ+ people killed throughout the U.S. in recent weeks. Dr. Rich Blint—visiting assistant professor of African and African American Studies at Dartmouth College—said the incident is indicative of a partisan, nationwide effort condemning people like Sibley.
“The reality that allows a 17-year-old boy to ruin the rest of his life, because he sees someone voguing at a gas station, is absolutely astounding to me,” he said. “That has been going on for all the time I’ve been alive…we can’t pretend this is a new question, and we can see from the current discourse from Republicans—in certain presidential candidates—there’s a really stark division in the country along racial gender and sexual lines.”
The Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes does not comment on individual cases, but connected the AmNews with partnering organization NYC Anti-Violence Project (AVP) on how the city may strategize on stopping similar violence in the future.
“We continue to say O’Shae Sibley’s name and mourn his loss along with our community. Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is harmful and anti-LGBTQ+ violence and harassment is rampant among our communities,” said AVP executive director Beverly Tillery. “Words can quickly escalate into physical violence and all hate violence puts our communities at more risk. We must prioritize working together, across communities, to eliminate bias-based violence across the board, and create a city and a country where people can live freely and fearlessly.”
Beyoncé honored Sibley over the weekend, changing her website header to simply say “REST IN POWER O’SHEA SIBLEY” over a black screen. Her “Renaissance” album played prior to the incident is heavily-influenced by Black queer music.
Only Popov was arrested and charged over Sibley’s killing.
“As of right now, the defendant’s going to be charged solely,” said NYPD Assistant Chief Kenny. “Based on our investigation the group dissipates. We had a lot of members from the community out here acting as peacemakers. The group did start to disappear. The defendant stayed unfortunately and stabbed the victim.”
Officially, Popov’s three charges are second-degree murder, second-degree murder as a hate crime and fourth-degree criminal weapon possession. He allegedly fled the scene in a Toyota Highlander before reportedly surrendering to Brooklyn’s 61st Precinct almost a week after the stabbing. Popov was remanded without bail, according to a Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office spokesperson.
A memorial GoFundMe supporting Sibley’s family was created by the company he danced for, Philadanco! It can be found at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dancers-memorial-fund-for-oshae-sibley?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.