Ramon Harris was 29. His friends called him Rah. They say he was the guy who stepped in when other people stepped back.

On Sunday, Aug. 23, he stepped in one more time. It was on the Atlanta Beltline. He did not walk away.

The call came in at about 4:01 p.m. It came from the trail near the Kroger on Ponce de Leon Avenue. Police found Harris with a stab wound. They grabbed a suspect right there. Harris was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital. He died there.

Police charged Johnathan Hamby, 54, with murder. He also faces charges of assault, making threats, and having a knife while doing a felony. The arrest warrant spells his first name Jonathan. He is accused. He has not been found guilty in this case.

Hamby gave up his first court date on Monday, Aug. 24. His next court date is Sept. 15.

Police say the two men did not know each other. The warrant says Hamby was arguing with two men near the store. It says he told them he would stab them. Then he lunged at Harris and stabbed him in the neck, the warrant says. Police picked up two knives at the scene.

"We believe this was an attack that was carried out as a result of an argument that was verbal in nature and quickly escalated," Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said.

Harris' friends tell a bigger story than the warrant does.

They met Saturday at Freedom Park to honor him. They say Harris died trying to calm down a man they believe was having a psychotic episode. Police have not said that. It is what the people who loved him say.

"He was actually striving to save somebody else's life," one friend said.

"I've seen Rah intervene in situations where everybody else got out of the way," the friend said. "I've seen him de-escalate. I've seen him be a good guy."

Tyrone Speaks is helping the family plan the funeral. He said the family has deep roots in music and faith.

"Long before he was a news story, before his death, he was a life that was lived," Speaks said.

The funeral is set for Sept. 12. It will be open to the public.

Now the hard part. The city is asking how the man charged in this case was out on the street.

Chief Schierbaum said his officers counted 30 past arrests for Hamby. Police say he is a felon. They say he was on probation in a Brookhaven assault case. Fox 5 Atlanta reported he had pleaded guilty before to an assault with a knife.

The DeKalb County DA's office laid out a long paper trail.

Hamby was on probation for an assault in Chamblee in 2023. He was also on probation in a 2022 trespassing and weapons case. Police arrested him in March 2023. He sat in the DeKalb County jail until Aug. 26, 2024. That day he pleaded guilty.

The deal was 10 years with two to serve. He got credit for time in jail. The judge set rules. He had to get a mental health exam in 60 days. He had to follow the treatment plan. He had to take an anger class. He had to check in with his probation officer.

Chamblee police arrested him again in March 2025. The charge was damaging property. A judge gave him bond that April. The state fought it. He stayed locked up anyway. Other counties had holds on him. He was moved to the Gwinnett and Fulton County jails. He stayed in jail through Dec. 18, 2025.

Brookhaven police arrested him again on March 6, 2026. He was accused of breaking the rules of his probation. Prosecutors moved to end that probation on March 17. He pleaded guilty in the property case on March 26. A judge ordered one more mental health exam.

The DA's office says it is trying to end his probation again now.

Hamby's own family spoke out after his arrest. They said they are sorry. They also said they had begged the courts for help for years.

"Our family is trapped in the agonizing reality of knowing that we spent years desperately fighting a broken system to prevent this exact tragedy from happening," the statement said.

The family said Hamby lives with a severe mental illness that brings on psychosis. They said they asked judges to step in. They said they were turned down.

"We did not ask to strip his humanity away," the family said. "We asked for a legal mechanism to step in and save him, and the community, from his delusions."

Mayor Andre Dickens said the record raises "serious questions about how someone with that record was once again in a position to endanger the public."

He asked city and Beltline staff to look at patrols, cameras, and how fast help gets there. The Beltline is a 22 mile loop of trails and parks. It ties Atlanta neighborhoods together.

None of that brings Rah Harris back. His friends keep saying the same thing. He ran toward the trouble. He always did.

A charge is not proof. Everyone is innocent until a court says otherwise.