NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The teenager who fatally stabbed New York dancer O'Shae Sibley at a Brooklyn gas station for dancing will face hate crime charges as an adult, according to authorities.
According to authorities and court documents, Dmitriy Popov was charged on Thursday with second-degree murder in connection with a hate crime for allegedly stabbing Sibley while the professional dancer was voguing to a Beyonce song in Coney Island.
The 17-year-old accused will be tried as an adult in the Supreme Court's youth division, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced.
Popov could spend the rest of his life in prison
Gonzalez did not specifically identify Popov as the killer, but records indicate that he was detained and charged with the hate-motivated assault. An upcoming senior at the Professional Pathways Sheepshead High School, Popov has never had a run-in with the law, according to records.
He could spend the rest of his life in prison after stabbing Sibley, 28, in the chest on July 29 while he was dancing with friends at a Mobil station on Coney Island Avenue around 11 pm.
'They were being themselves, dancing joyfully to Beyoncé music at a Brooklyn gas station'
Gonzalez said over the din of pounding rain and honking cars, “They were being themselves, dancing joyfully to Beyoncé music at a Brooklyn gas station. We promise the family that we would have a vigorous, thorough prosecution.”
The Brooklyn district attorney assured the public that his office is treating the case against Popov, whose name has not yet been made public, "very seriously."
Gonzalez described the "deadly deed" as an incident that reverberated throughout Brooklyn and shed light on the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments that persist throughout New York City.
'The entire community has been victimized by this incident'
Gonzalez said, "The entire community has been victimized by this incident, I believe that it is a thing that is special about hate crimes: hate crimes involve not just the family but the entire community’s sense of safety and security,” as reported by NewYorkPost.
Dmitriy Popov is a 'good Christian boy'
Popov's attorney denied the allegations, saying that the teenager is a "good Christian boy" — as opposed to being a Muslim, as initially reported by authorities — whose parents immigrated to Brooklyn from Russia.
Police have not retrieved the knife that Popov is accused of using to kill Sibley, according to defense attorney Mark Pollard, who spoke to PIX 11.
Pollard said, “If they found a knife, I didn’t hear it in court." When asked if Popov had been there the night that Sibley died, Pollard responded, "No comment."
Records show that Popov turned himself in to police
Records show that Popov turned himself in to police last week after officers located surveillance video of the fatal attack outside the Bolla Mobile station on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue P.
After Popov and his friends allegedly informed Sibley's group that they were offended by the scantily clad dancing, the 17-year-old and Sibley were among two sizable squads that were seen fighting.
The two groups then come face to face and conversed for a while before briefly scattering, only to come face to face once more.
Popov allegedly yelled anti-gay and racist epithets at Sibley
Before inserting the weapon through Sibley's ribcage, Popov allegedly yelled anti-gay and racist epithets at Sibley from behind a black SUV. Officials declared that the assault was unmistakably a hate crime.
