A Brooklyn man who fatally stabbed gay dancer O’Shae Sibley during a confrontation at a gas station in 2023 has been convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime, but acquitted of murder charges.
Dmitriy Popov, 20, a smoke shop employee from Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay neighborhood, was accused of fatally stabbing O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old professional dancer who had moved from Philadelphia to New York City to pursue a career in the arts.
Popov faced nine charges, including two counts of second-degree murder as hate crimes, two counts of first-degree manslaughter as hate crimes, and aggravated harassment based on race, religion, or sexual orientation.
Popov, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime, second-degree menacing, second-degree aggravated harassment, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon following trial.
According to prosecutors, on July 29, 2023, Sibley and his friends stopped at a gas station in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood after returning from the beach. While filling up their car, they got out, listened to music, and danced to songs by Beyoncé.
Popov and two friends then exited the gas station store, hurling homophobic and racist slurs at the men and telling them to “Get that gay shit out of here.” Prosecutors’ witnesses testified that the teens mocked the men’s appearance and mannerisms. One of the teens allegedly claimed to be Muslim and said he was offended by their behavior.
Sibley attempted to defuse the situation, telling the group, “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.”
Although Popov’s friends eventually left, he remained outside the gas station, recording the encounter on his cellphone and continuing to harass the group. When Sibley and two friends confronted him, Popov pulled a knife from his pocket and pointed it at them. He then stabbed Sibley in the chest, puncturing his heart.
Sibley was pronounced dead a short time later at Maimonides Hospital.
During the trial, Popov’s legal team argued that he acted in self-defense after being approached by Sibley and two of his friends. Popov testified that he felt threatened and stabbed Sibley only after Sibley “ran at me” and punched him in the head.
“I was panicking and started shaking,” Popov testified. “It was chaotic. I didn’t know what just happened. It all happened so quick.”
Popov’s lawyer, Mark Pollard, argued that his client was too young to act reasonably in the moment, citing research suggesting that the brain is not fully developed until age 25. Pollard contended that Popov made a split-second decision while attempting to retreat.
Prosecutors rejected Popov’s self-defense claim, arguing that Sibley moved toward him only in an attempt to disarm him and that Popov had multiple opportunities to leave but instead escalated the confrontation. Under New York law, a person generally cannot claim self-defense if they initiated a confrontation and failed to retreat when given the opportunity.
Under cross-examination, Popov admitted that he had never seen any weapons on Sibley or his friends and testified that he had thrown away the phone he used to record his interactions with the group.
During deliberations, jurors appeared to struggle with the distinction between murder and manslaughter, asking Judge Dena Douglas to reread the relevant law three times. The jury ultimately acquitted Popov of the murder charges but convicted him of manslaughter and the other offenses.
The manslaughter conviction carries a sentence of eight to 25 years in prison.
Popov is scheduled to be sentenced on June 30.
Joshua Sanchez, 34, one of Sibley’s friends who was at the gas station that night, said the jury’s verdict felt like “half justice” and that Popov “got off easy.”
He recalled witnessing the “hate that came out of his mouth, out of his soul” when Popov attacked Sibley.
“It didn’t feel like manslaughter,” Sanchez said.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez commended the jury’s verdict.
“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,” Gonzalez said in a 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.”
San Francisco police are investigating after a suspect vandalized a floral design shop with homophobic graffiti before fleeing in an SUV bearing a pro-Charlie Kirk message on the back windshield.
Jeff Dumlao, co-owner of the floral design studio Chartreuse by Roje in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, said he and his partner, Roberto Cancel, had just closed for the day on May 16 when they were alerted to the graffiti.
"We were going to support one of our friends at an art show down the street, and on the way, we get a text from one of our clients saying, 'I know you just closed, but you might want to come back because there's some unpleasant graffiti on the wall outside your store and some sort of disturbance happening,'" Dumlao told SFist.
The Capital Pride Alliance, organizer of the annual celebration of Pride in the nation's capital, has announced that Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum musical artist Maren Morris, will headline the 2026 Capital Pride Concert on Sunday, June 21.
Known for her music combining elements of country, pop, R&B, rock, and soul, Morris will be joined by acclaimed queer rapper Leikeli47, pop icon Lisa Lisa, the Toronto-based electronic musician and DJ Harrison -- a two-time JUNO Award nominee, whose music appears on thesoundtrack for the gay-themed HBO series Heated Rivalry -- and Myki Meeks, winner of Season 18 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
David Archuleta and Monroe Alise have been announced as the grand marshals of the 2026 Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 20.
The annual parade, which draws thousands of revelers, will step off at 3 p.m. from the intersection of 14th and T Streets NW. Floats, vehicles, and marchers will proceed down 14th Street before ending near Pennsylvania Avenue NW around 7 p.m.
Archuleta, who performed at WorldPride last year, first rose to fame as the runner-up on the seventh season of American Idol. He went on to launch a two-decade music career and release eight studio albums.
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