Professional Dancer Killed for Voguing at a Brooklyn Gas Station. Murder Investigated as a Hate Crime

O'Shae Sibley

28-year old professional dancer O'Shae Sibley was stabbed to death at a Brooklyn gas station on Saturday night in an incident that police are investigating as a homophobic hate crime, The Gothamist reports.

"O'Shae Sibley and his friends stopped to fuel up at a Mobil gas station on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood around 11 p.m., on their way home after a day at the beach, according to family and friends," The Gothamist continues. They were "voguing" to Beyoncé's "Renaissance," according to a video posted by one of the witnesses on Facebook. Surveillance video from the gas station shows they were shirtless in their bathing suits on a sweltering night.

Summy Ullah, an employee of the gas station's adjoining Bolla Market, told the Gothamist that Sibley and his friends were approached by a group of men who claimed the flamboyant behavior offended their Muslim faith.

"These people were like 'we're Muslim, I don't want you dancing," Ullah said in a phone interview Monday to the Gothamist. Ullah said that the initial instigators were friends of a man who works at a nearby smoke shop and frequently used the gas station men's room.

"The gay people, they were not trying to fight," said Ullah. "The smoke shop kid and his friend started this."

Ullah attempted to intervene, but the fight escalated between the two groups. When the fight escalated, Ullah stepped out of the store to intervene. "Surveillance video from outside the store captured a heated verbal exchange between the two groups," Gothamist adds. "Sibley, tall in pink swim trunks, stands by his buddies as they argue with the other men." At one point, Sibley disappears around the side of the store.

"When Sibley is fully visible again, he has been stabbed, and appears stunned on the sidewalk as his friends scramble to stop the bleeding from his wound," the Gothamist continues.

"A 17-year-old is now being sought in connection to the murder. Law enforcement sources have identified the suspect as a teen who remains at large, reports NBCNewYork.

One of those friends was Otis Pena, who posted a Facebook Live video on his profile page Sunday, the day after the incident. "They killed O'Shae," he repeats over and over again through tears in that video. "They killed my brother right in front of me. I'm covered in his blood."

Pena explained the beach outings was to celebrate his birthday. Pena lived two blocks from the gas station. "They murdered him, because he was gay, because he stood up for his friends," Pena said, anguished. "I'm trying to put pressure on the wound, and there's blood squirting everywhere. Happy birthday to me, right?"

He said of his slain friend in the video that he knew Sibley for 15 years. "O'Shae was the salt to my pepper, the peanut butter to my jelly."

O'Shae Sibley had moved to NYC from Philadelphia three years ago with hopes of becoming a professional dancer. In Philly, he was a member of Philadanco, a company known for celebrating and preserving African-American dance traditions. In New York he joined an all-queer dance crew organized by choreographer Kemar Jewel for a 2020 project called "Vogue 4 #BlackLivesMatter." Jewel told the Daily News that Sibley was a versatile artist who had a passion for using his dance skills for LGBTQ advocacy.

"He was a gentle spirit," his aunt Tondra Sibley told the Gothamist. "Everyone that knew him knew that he was always smiling... he loved people, he loved dancing, he loved teaching dance.

"Why would a person feel they have the right [to kill] just because they disagree with them? So you're gonna stab everybody you disagree with? Is that what you're gonna do?" she said.