What to Know
- Beyoncé took to her website to honor a gay man stabbed to death while voguing to her music at a New York City gas station over the weekend.
- Law enforcement sources have identified the suspect of the shocking crime as a teen who remains at large.
- Those who knew O'Shae Sibley as a talented dancer and certainly a friend, have no doubt that his murder was a hate crime.
Beyoncé paid tribute to a gay man stabbed to death while voguing to her music at a New York City gas station over the weekend -- a crime that highlights the continuous violence that the LGBTQ community faces.
“REST IN POWER O’SHAE SIBLEY,” the singer's website read.
O'Shae Sibley, 28, worked professionally as a dancer in New York and Philadelphia, and belonged to several dance troupes in the region. He was vogueing and dancing to music from Beyoncé Saturday night when he was approached by a group of men who witnesses have said told him to stop.
The teen sought in connection to the shocking death remains in the wind, all while his friends try to piece together how they lost the man in a tragic stabbing at a Brooklyn gas station.
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Witnesses have said that group didn't like that Sibley and his friends were dancing and started making derogatory comments about them being gay.
Those who knew Sibley as a talented dancer and certainly a friend, have no doubt that his murder was a hate crime.
Later, police said a 17-year-old in a black shirt and red shorts pulled out a knife and stabbed Sibley in the chest. Police say the killing is being investigated as a potential hate crime.
"He had a problem with them dancing, he wanted them to stop dancing, he started arguing with them. And then after a few fights and back and forth arguing, he pulled out a knife and stabbed him," witness Sayeda Haider said.
In a heartbreaking video posted to Facebook, Otis Pena recounts the final moments of his friend's life.
"They killed him right in front of me," Pena said. “I see him wobbling and I had to run to him and hold his wound as blood is dripping on my hands, as blood is on my clothes."
"This young man's death is horrific and really just shows the state of being an LGBTQ person in America today," Tony Morrison, senior director of communications at GLAAD, said.
Morrison said the killing underscores a rise in violence against members of the LGBTQ community nationwide.
"We've seen harassment, vandalism, and it's now manifesting in physical harm -- in this case death," Morrison said.
Friends remember Sibley as a talented professional dancer. He danced with Ailey Extension, which released a statement calling Sibley a "cherished and devoted participant" of their classes, and who brought an "incredible energy."
“O’Shae was a cherished and devoted participant in our Ailey Extension program of dance classes. He had incredible energy in the studio and instructors and fellow students held him in high esteem.”
Law enforcement sources have identified the suspect as a teen who remains at large.
There will be a memorial service for Sibley at the LGBT Community Center in the West Village on Saturday evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
