NYC NOW - As O'Shae Sibley's Killer is Sentenced to 20 Years, His Community Still Mourns

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

In July 2023, O’Shae Sibley was stabbed and killed at a Brooklyn gas station after an argument broke out while he and his friends were dancing to Beyoncé. Prosecutors called it a hate crime. Nearly three years later, the man who killed him was sentenced to 20 years in prison. WNYC reporter Samantha Max covered the trial from the start, and she joins us to talk about the sentencing, what she heard from Sibley's family, and what his friends are doing to keep his memory alive. Photo: Caroline Rubinstein-Willis/Mayoral Photography Office Read More: Brooklyn jury convicts man in hate-crime killing of O'Shae Sibley Black, gay dancer was ‘living his best life’ before brutal Brooklyn murder, prosecutor says -Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jenae Pierre. We're taking every murder case seriously, but this one was different. This one was meaningful in a different way because hate crimes have that chilling impact. It's been three years since O'Shea Sibley was stabbed to death at a Brooklyn gas station. His attacker was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for the hate crime. On today's episode, we reached. We visit the mobile gas station on Coney Island Avenue and discuss why his murder looms so large for queer communities.

But before we get into that, here's a quick rundown of some of the headlines we're following. A 72-year-old woman plans to sue the federal government after ICE agents pepper sprayed her directly in the face last week. You've probably seen this one on social media. Videos show massed agents approaching the woman as she stood on the sidewalk in Inwood Manhattan. One appears to immediately spray her at short range. When ICE was asked about the incident, a spokesperson said the agent was trying to contain what they called an unruly crowd. Governor Hockel is condemning the incident. I don't know who needs to hear this, but double parking is illegal in New York City.

And as a reminder, the sanitation department is slapping so-called shame stickers on cars that aren't moved for street sweeping. The bright green stickers come with a $65 fine. The city council brought back the old practice to better enforce alternate side parking rules. So do like ludicrous and move. Actor Bowen-Yang is having quite the year, and I'm feeling like a proud auntie. From being named Grand Marshal of this year's Pride March to Broadway. Yep, that's right. The former SNL cast member is making his Broadway debut this fall.

He'll play the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in O'Mary, starting in September. For more of what's happening in and around New York City, visit our news site Gothamist. In July 2023, O'Shea Sibley was coming back from a day at the beach. He was with a group of his friends who were also black queer dancers. They stopped at a Brooklyn gas station and were dancing to my girl Beyonce in their bathing suits when an argument broke out with the group of teenagers nearby. That argument escalated and ended up with Sibley being. being stabbed in an attack, prosecutors would later call a hate crime.

O'Shea Sibley was 28 years old. Nearly three years later, the man who killed him was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Dimitri Popov was 17 when he stabbed Sibley and 20 years old on the day he was sentenced. WMYC reporter Samantha Max covered the trial from the start, and on almost the three-year anniversary of Sibley's death, Samantha took me to the gas station to see what, if anything, that corner of Midwood remembers. We're here in Midwood, Brooklyn,

at the mobile gas station, at the corner of Avenue P and Coney Island Avenue. It's a rainy morning, and gas station is pretty busy, and it was just like this, I'm guessing, three years ago. Sam, remind us what we're here anyway. Yeah, so this is the first time I've been here in person. I've been here in video many times.

I've been here. throughout the trial, which I covered for several weeks over and over again. I watched the footage from multiple angles of what happened. So now I'm here in this space. I'm seeing the texture of the neighborhood. I'm seeing this house next door with Ivy growing on the wall. I'm seeing all these different local businesses and the people that are coming in and out and getting gas and going about their day. Let's go on and talk to them. We're reporters with WNYC. It's the public radio station wondering if you're doing door dash sorry i don't have a good day all right so door dashing yeah so there is a burger king inside the mini mart where actually the defendant in this case was

getting dinner so that door dasher was just going to get some burger king for someone who ordered delivery one of the questions at trial was whether the defendant ever got his burger king dinner and it seems that he did not. He did not. No. Hey, Sam. Hey. So we're back here in studio. Can you just remind us what happened to O'Shea Sibley?

Yeah, this goes back a few years, July 2023. Sibley is with a group of friends. They had just been at the beach in New Jersey. It was an LGBTQ-friendly beach. And it was the birthday of one of his friends, Otis Pena. There was a big rainstorm, so basically when it came time to leave, all of their clothing was soaked. So they're all in the car just in their bathing suits. For Peña, that means he's just wearing a jock strap.

Okay. So they're almost home. There are a few blocks from Peña's place in Midwood, and they stop at the gas station to refuel. They're blasting Renaissance. And then Peña is starting to dance. Sibley is stretching his legs. everything's chill, and then all of a sudden, there's a group that is inside of the gas station that prosecutors say starts yelling at them. I should mention it's a group of white teenagers that come out of

the gas station. This group is all black gay men, and prosecutors say that they're yelling homophobic slurs. There's some kind of back and forth between them. Sibley actually walks up, his friends say that he was trying to play peacemaker to diffuse the situation to say, hey, you know, we're We're all just trying to be in this space. You know, it's a public space. It's a gas station. Lots of people come in and out. The gas station clerk gets involved.

Everyone splits up except for this one 17-year-old, Dmitri Popov, who is standing by the door to the gas station. He is waiting for his dinner from Burger King, allegedly, and he's holding up his phone recording. And then prosecutors say that he yelled another homophobic slur. And then Sibley and some of his friends start walking back toward him. Popov starts walking backwards. You can see this on the surveillance footage. And then you can see Sibley actually run at Popov because at that point, Popov you can see in the footage has taken out a knife.

They collide. Popov stabs Sibley in the torso. And then he kind of. waddles back, he gets on the ground and lies down and he was pronounced dead shortly after. That really escalated. Yeah. I'm just wondering, how was that for you watching in the courtroom? I mean, there are so many things that, like, as a court reporter, I'm doing in a moment like that.

It's like I'm watching the footage to pay attention to the details, to understand what's going on. I'm taking my notes. someone is also testifying at the same time as they're kind of going through it. And then at the end of the day, you go home and you kind of like sit with everything you've just seen. Yeah. And it's a lot. It's definitely really heavy. So you've been covering this since the beginning.

Is there a moment from the trial that stood out to you? Yeah. I think something that was really striking about this case is that Sibley was not alone that night. He had multiple friends who were with him. and they one by one came in and testified and shared what had happened. There were also other eyewitnesses who were there. And even the defendant himself took the stand, which is not something that happens in a lot of criminal trials. So it was just really hearing from so many different perspectives what happened.

And then over and over again watching the surveillance footage from every angle of what went down that night. Yeah. I mean, you talked about how many people showed up at court as witnesses. I mean, that's pretty easy to believe considering all the people we saw going in and out of that gas station that day. Yeah, and that doesn't even include a bunch of the people who were there that night. It was Sibley's friends. It was Popov, the defendant. There were some kind of neighborhood watch people who were around who saw part of what happened. And then there was also the gas station clerk who was there actually trying to break up the fight that night.

He took the stand as well. Dimitri Popov was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime. And a couple weeks ago, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. When you were in the courtroom, how did that land the sentencing? Yeah, I mean, it was a really emotional day. There were a lot of people who spoke to the judge before the sentence was handed down a bunch of siblings' friends and family members. I mean, they were very emotional. His friend, Otis Peña, who was with him the day that he was killed, was shaking so much when he was speaking that the prosecutor had to actually basically stand behind him and hold him up.

Yeah, I mean, he talked about, like, being on medication now because of everything that he's been through, having nightmares where he's seeing his friends being killed. This has really just taken a toll on so many people. I mean, even the district attorney of Brooklyn was crying in the courtroom. As district attorney, I'm proud of the office for standing up for people. We take every homicide and every murder case seriously, but this one was different. This one was meaningful in a different way because hate crimes have that chilling impact. And what you heard is that his life touched people who did not know him,

but because he lived and he mattered. that his death mattered too. Not something you see every day. And then also you had this teenager who made his, or he's not a teenager anymore, but he was a teen at the time. Now he's 20. Dmitri Popov.

He spoke to the family. He actually wanted to turn and address them to apologize and the judge wouldn't let him, felt that that wasn't appropriate. And then this sentence is handed down. And I think it came as a bit of a surprise to some people. The defense attorney had asked for him to be treated as what's called a youthful offender. That's a particular part of New York law where if someone

is under a certain age when they commit a crime, they can actually be treated differently, and that means that they could get a much lower sentence also. So he was asking for that in this case. And, you know, the judge denied it. So he ultimately ended up getting 20 years in prison. You mentioned that Dmitri Popov wanted to speak directly to the family from the stand. And the judge, didn't allow it. However, did he make mention or apologize? He did apologize. He was apologizing for what happened, saying that he hopes that whatever his sentence is, that the family can forgive him. And it was really interesting because then outside of the courtroom, Sibley's mother, Onitha Sibley, she spoke and she said that for months she had hated this

person and it had made her so sick. She had been going to the hospital. She couldn't eat. She couldn't sleep, and then eventually she just decided that she needed to forgive him. And suddenly, she felt better. She wasn't sure if she was ready to accept his apology. She wasn't sure if it was genuine, she said. But in her heart, she had to forgive him in order to move forward. Oh, wow. We'll have more on Sam's reporting of this trial in how O'Shea Sibley's family and friends are reacting to the sentence. We're back with WMYC's Sam Max. She's been covering the trial of Dmitri Popov.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing O'Shea Sibley. Before the break, Sam told us that Popov apologized in court and that Sibley's mother said she'd made the choice to forgive him, even though she wasn't sure his apology was genuine. I'm sorry, I'm taking a moment, Sam, because what a big person, O'Shea Sibley's mom is, right? I couldn't imagine the weight of all of that. Were other family members as forgiving as his mom?

It was really a mix. I mean, there were a bunch of family members there. Some were like 20 years isn't even enough. Others said, you know, I don't believe in anyone going to prison really, but I'm at least glad that he's going to face some accountability for what he did. So it was really a mix across the board. and a mix also of whether people felt like the apology was genuine. You know, during our visit to the gas station, we actually met a couple people who also said that, hey, I don't think 20 years is enough.

Yeah, we did hear that from some people. I think when you hear the facts of the case, it's striking. It's, you know, people are dancing in their bathing suits. And then suddenly they're being yelled at. Prosecutors say there were slurs being yelled at them because of just who they were, because they were going about their day. And then you have a teenager stabbing someone and killing them. Like something that could have just been a disagreement suddenly turned deadly because he had a knife. Right.

And we heard that same sentiment, right, from Ms. Jill as she was pumping her gas. She may mention that, you know, kids, what are we going to do with them, basically? Especially with the kids today. They're too much in school with the social media. And, you know, you don't know what people. There's so many people saying so many different things to them. Yeah. Exactly.

And this was also a case where, I mean, everyone was fairly young, but you had one group of men who were in, like, their late 20s. And then you had teenagers, which an argument that the defense attorney was making throughout trial was, teenagers' brains are different. They're not developed fully. There are things about impulse control, how they perceive things. That, you know, it's just, it's not the same as when you have like a fully formed brain and understanding of consequences for your actions. And that is something that came up a lot at trial. Yeah.

I know you talked with some of O'Shea Sibley's friends. What are they doing now to keep his memory alive? Yeah, well, in the immediate aftermath, there were some vigils. There was even some people who went to the gas station were dancing in Sibley's honor. At the sentencing, the family mentioned that there's actually, I think, been a scholarship that's been set up in his honor because Sibley was a dancer. He used to dance at first in Philadelphia at the local dance company. And then when he moved to New York City, he was dancing at the Alvinan. alien extension in some other places. So I think really in the dancing community, they have been

trying to honor him. And of course, this will always, you know, be a bond that everyone who is there that night remembers and remembers him in that way. But there was also something that really kind of stood out to me during the sentencing was there was another friend who was not there that night. But throughout the trial, he had gotten really emotional at different points, sometimes even walking out of the courtroom, crying. And at sentencing, he had said that he was supposed to be there at the beach with them that day. He was supposed to be in that car at the gas station. He had overslept his alarm, which he said was really rare for him. And he just didn't make it. And I think he had had something going on at work a few days before, and Sibley had actually given him a brownie, he said, because he knew that he loved brownies.

And then he found out that his friend had been killed, and he said he still keeps that brownie in his freezer to this day. Man, that's tough. Yeah. That's WNYC's Samantha Max. Sam, thanks for coming back and reporting all of this for us. Yeah, thank you. And thank you for listening to you. to NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. See you next time.