A professional dancer was stabbed to death at a New York City gas station in an attack that is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
O’Shae Sibley, 28, who has performed at Lincoln Center as part of an all-queer dance group, was blasting music and voguing with some friends at a Brooklyn gas station when confronted by a group of Muslim men who said the victim’s impromptu performance offended their faith, the New York Daily News reported, citing witnesses and friends.
The entire confrontation was captured on surveillance video from the scene. Sibley and his friends got out of their vehicle while getting gas and began dancing — they were shirtless and in swim trunks after a trip to the Jersey Shore, which one witness described as “underwear,” according to the paper.
A group of men exited the store and confronted those dancing, protesting because of their Muslim faith, according to eyewitness Summy Ullah.
“They were saying, ‘Oh, we’re Muslim, so don’t do this in front of me,’” Ullah said, according to the Daily News. “From that, I think it looks like a hate crime. Nothing else was going on. They were only dancing.”
“This guy was dancing in underwear and the suspect was like ‘Why are you dancing in your underwear?’” he added. “Obviously, they are gay and if they are dancing that’s the problem they had.”
CBS News reported on the incident, pressing the attack on the LGBTQ+ community while making no mention of the Muslim connection — a tactic The Washington Post employed as well.
The NYPD is investigating the fatal stabbing of a dancer as a possible hate crime. Witnesses described hearing homophobic slurs during the attack outside a Brooklyn gas station. pic.twitter.com/z9hOhx04Y9
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) August 1, 2023
Ullah said the group dancing told the men, “You like girls, you look like you’re into girls, but we are not into girls. We have our own life. We can do whatever we want, you know. We’re dancing, that’s our life.”
Otis Pena, one of Sibley’s best friends, was there and said in a Facebook video that he tried to render aid after the stabbing.
“They killed my brother right in front of me,” he tearfully recounted. “They murdered him because he is gay and he stood up for his friends.”
“You stabbed my brother …” he continued. “Just because he was trying to let people know that we are gay, that we exist, you don’t disrespect.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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