Teen charged with hate crime in dance O'Shae Sibley's murder: police
(CBS) -- A 17-year-old is facing a hate crime charge after police say he fatally stabbed former Philadanco! dancer O'Shae Sibley last weekend.
Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD's Joe Kenny made the announcement in a news conference Saturday. You can watch the full video on CBS New York's website.
Sibley and his friends were returning to New York from New Jersey when they stopped at a Mobil gas station in the Midwood section of Brooklyn on July 29.
"As they waited to refuel their vehicle, Mr. Sibley and his group began dancing to music that was being played in their car," Kenny said.
They were then approached by another group who wanted them to stop. An argument ensued.
"As the group began to yell at Mr. Sibley and his friends, they began to call him derogatory names and use homophobic slurs against him," Kenny said. "They also made anti-Black statements, all while demanding that they simply stop dancing."
Sibley was stabbed during that argument and later pronounced dead at a hospital
The 17-year-old attends a high school near the gas station, according to Kenny.
News of Sibley's death rippled throughout the worlds of music and dance. Beyoncé's official website was updated to say "rest in power O'Shae Sibley" at the top. Director Spike Lee mourned Sibley on his Instagram page.
He was a standout in a dance class at a North Philadelphia rec center, and the instructor encouraged him to get involved with the youth academy at the Philadelphia Dance Company, also known as Philadanco.
RELATED: Philadanco! mourns dancer O'Shae Sibley who was killed in New York
Philadanco! founder Joan Myers Brown told CBS News Philadelphia Sibley became one of the few male dancers in the Danco 2 Division.
"We didn't have many boys in Danco 2 so he got a lot of responsibility and he held his own. He was the shining star in the group," Brown said.
Like some other alums of the program, he moved on to New York to further his dance career. He was a "cherished and devoted" student of the Ailey Extension, the dance studio of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation, the organization said in a statement to CNN.
A celebration of life for Sibley is scheduled for Tuesday at The Met Philadelphia.
