BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — The fatal stabbing of a 28-year-old man at a Brooklyn gas station Saturday night is being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force, officials said.
Authorities found O’Shae Sibley with a stab wound to the abdomen near the Mobil gas station at 1921 Coney Island Ave. in Midwood at around 11:15 p.m., according to the NYPD. Sibley was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.
Police said Sibley and his friends got into a fight with another group prior to the attack. Witnesses said Sibley and his friends were dancing outside of their car while filling it with gas when a customer inside the convenience store at the station told them to stop because he found it offensive.
The customer allegedly made anti-LGBTQ comments, sources told PIX11 News. New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the stabbing was a hate crime.
“Now, when you have an incident like we saw over the weekend with this young man was experiencing that hate crime, and we will find the person responsible, it shakes our confidence,” said Adams.
Sibley was a dancer who performed in an LGBTQ dance troupe, according to his family.
PhilaDanCo told PIX11 News that Sibley was a student for around seven years, from the age of 14 to 21, who attended on a scholarship. The dance company told PIX11 News:
“Everybody at DanCo is devastated over the news,” a spokesperson for PhilaDanCo told PIX11 News. “He was a talented, very poor kid from North Philly, whose mother was on drugs, but Dance really helped him get out of that world, and give him a career and brought him to New York.”
Police are still searching for the suspect, who is believed to be in his late teens and possibly from the neighborhood. A police source told PIX11 News the teen allegedly got into a black SUV after the stabbing and detectives are questioning the owner of the SUV.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
