A man was convicted of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime on June 8 in connection with the death of out gay dancer and choreographer O’Shae Sibley, who was killed at a Brooklyn gas station in 2023.
Sibley and his friends stopped at a Mobil gas station at 1921 Coney Island Ave. in the Midwood section of Brooklyn on July 29, 2023 when the group started voguing and listening to music after a day at the beach. That apparently prompted a group of strangers, including then-17-year-old Dmitriy Popov of Sheepshead Bay, to approach Sibley and his friends, voicing anti-LGBTQ and racist slurs.
“Get that gay s–t out of here,” Popov and his friends said at the time, prosecutors said during Popov’s trial. Sibley responded to Popov, saying, “You don’t know us, we’re just having a good time and enjoying our lives. It’s all respect, we’re allowed to be here just like you.”
Popov, now 20, continued to voice more hateful remarks, prosecutors said, at which point Sibley and his friends confronted him. Popov pulled out a knife, pointed it at Sibley’s friend, and stabbed Sibley on the side of his chest, which punctured his heart.
Popov, who faces up to 25 years in prison, was also convicted of second-degree menacing, second-degree aggravated assault, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Popov was also charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, but he was not convicted.
At his trial, Popov claimed he acted in self-defense, saying he “was scared that I was going to get hurt,” according to the New York Times. While Popov admitted to killing Sibley in court, his attorney, Mark Pollard, said his client “had no choice but to take the stand to tell the jury that he was acting out of self-defense.”
“O’Shae Sibley moved to New York to pursue his dream of being a dancer and choreographer, and his life was cut short when he was killed by this defendant, who couldn’t stand the sight of O’Shae and his friends just being themselves and living their lives openly as black gay men,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a written statement. “By the jury’s verdict, this defendant will now be held accountable, and it is my hope that as the LGBTQ+ community celebrates the beginning of Pride Month, this verdict will bring O’Shae’s family, his friends, and the larger community some measure of solace. Hate has no place in Brooklyn, and my office will do everything in its power to keep our vulnerable communities safe.”
Popov is scheduled to be sentenced on June 30.
