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17-year-old arraigned in death of O'Shae Sibley
FOX 5 NY's Ashlie Rodriguez was inside the court room as his arraignment played out.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Dimitry Popov, 17, was arraigned Friday morning at the Brooklyn Courthouse for the stabbing death of O'Shae Sibley, 28, allegedly out of homophobic rage.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Popov was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime, first-degree manslaughter, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and related counts.
Teen suspect charged with hate crime murder of O’Shae Sibley to appear in court
The suspect will be arraigned Friday on the charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime. If convicted, the suspect could face a minimum of 20 years in prison and maximum of 25 years to life.
He was ordered held without bail and to return to court on October 10, 2023. If convicted of the top count he faces a minimum of 20 years to life and a maximum of 25 years to life.
Indicted for murder as a hate crime and related charges for allegedly stabbing and killing dancer and choreographer O’Shae Sibley at a Midwood gas station after hurling homophobic and anti-Black slurs.
Surveillance video taken on July 29th around 11 p.m. at the Mobile gas station on Coney Island Avenue, shows the confrontation between Sibley's group of friends and Popov's.
The DA says the teen took issue with Sibley, a professional dancer who was shirtless and unarmed, dancing to Beyoncé music near their car.
Beyoncé honors O'Shae Sibley, dancer stabbed to death at NYC gas station
O'Shae Sibley was stabbed to death in Brooklyn last Saturday after a confrontation with a group of men at a gas station in Brooklyn.
The DA says Popov allegedly started yelling out anti-black and homophobic slurs, before pulling out a knife and stabbing Sibley in the chest.
"I strongly suspect we're going to proceed to a trial," said Popov’s defense attorney Mark Pollard. "I've heard a lot of reports in the media, and I'm hearing things that don't actually jive with what happened in this particular case."
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Memorial remembers O'Shae Sibley
Demonstrators gathered a the gas station where O'Shae Sibley was stabbed and killed last weekend to remember the life of the professional dancer. Meanwhile, a suspect has reportedly been taken into custody connected to Sibley's death.
"Other people, bigger stronger, taller than him, older than him, a number of other people are approaching him, and he's moving back," Pollard said.
Popov's defense attorney is claiming the teen, who will be tried as an adult, may have been acting in self-defense. He also says Popov is a Christian, not a Muslim as Mayor Eric Adams implied at a news conference. And with black family and friends, he does not believe Popov was acting out of bigotry.