Twist in Dancer’s Killing as Key Detail About Suspect Is Corrected
In the days after O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay man, was killed during an altercation outside a gas station in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn, the picture that emerged suggested an explosive combination of homophobia, religious intolerance and racism.
A witness said a group of men that included the teenager charged in the killing used homophobic slurs and told Mr. Sibley that they were Muslim, and he should stop dancing.
Some initial media reports picked up that account. Mayor Eric Adams and the police held a news conference at which the mayor stressed that the killing was not evidence of Muslim hatred of gay people.
Now, it appears the man charged with Mr. Sibley’s murder is not Muslim at all. The suspect, Dmitriy Popov, 17, is Christian, his lawyer said, altering at least one aspect of a killing that has drawn national attention.
