A young grandfather shot to death on a Brooklyn subway train Sunday night was breaking up a fight when he was killed — with his grieving family calling him a man who “always wanted peace.”
Richard Henderson, 45, of Crown Heights had apparently intervened in a dispute over loud music between his killer and another man before he caught two bullets — one in the back and another in the shoulder — on a Manhattan-bound 3 train about 8:15 p.m., police and sources said.
“He’s a good man,” his wife, Jakeba Dockery, told The Post on Monday. “He didn’t deserve it. Not that.”
Shattered family members gathered at the Brooklyn home of Henderson’s in-laws, describing the slain father of three and grandfather of two young girls as someone who loved helping others and always put his family first.
The victim’s older brother, Jermaine Henderson, told The Post that his sibling would take the shirt off his back if he thought it would help others.
“He died helping someone,” Jermaine said. “That’s him! He always intervened, he always wanted peace.
“That’s just what he did his whole life: Help people,” Jermaine continued. “We’re baffled. He was on his way home to his family.”
Richard was a diehard fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, his family said. And even though his team wasn’t playing until Monday night, he wanted to watch a good game out with his pals.
Anthony Williams said he was with Henderson as the pair returned from another buddy’s house after watching the Green Bay Packers trounce the Dallas Cowboys — and that he was with the victim when he was shot.
“We weren’t doing nothing to that man,” Williams told The Post, referring to the shooter. “We didn’t say nothing.”
“The [shooter] got on the train with loudspeakers playing music,” he continued. “He shot Richie. He tried to shoot me in the head, but I ducked and he went out through the two swinging doors on Rockaway Parkway. I just let him go, because he almost caught me in the head.”
Williams said he stayed with his mortally wounded friend. But by the time the cops came, it was too late.
“Richie lost a lot of blood,” Williams said. “It was a lot.”
Henderson had worked as a crossing guard at a private school on the Upper West Side for more than a decade, his family said.
The job fit his help-anyone personality, kin said.
“He just wanted to make sure people were OK around him, that there was no commotion, no beef, no problems,” his oldest child, 25-year-old son Richard Jr., told The Post.
“He was a peaceful man,” his son continued. “There was never any beef between him and anybody, he got killed because he was trying to make [peace].”
Richard Jr. broke down in tears when he saw The Post’s story about his dad – which included a photo of him and his parents after his school graduation.
“Everyone here is numb,” he said. “We’re still just trying to come to believe that this is real.”
Jermaine added, “My brother was a good man — he put family above everything else.”
Henderson had apparently tried to calm an argument between two other subway riders over the music’s volume, police sources said.
No arrests have been made.
Students and associates of the Avenues The World School, the private school where Henderson worked as a crossing guard, launched a GoFundMe campaign for the beloved employee late Monday night.
“Richard’s life was a mosaic of selflessness and dedication,” they wrote in the description of the verified fundraising campaign page. “For over a decade, he served as a crossing guard, shepherding young lives safely, a role that mirrored his innate desire to protect and care for those around him.”
The GoFundMe raised more than $12,000 for Henderson’s family in the first four hours it had been online as past and current students shared memories of the easygoing crossing guard with the “biggest most beautiful heart” in the comments.
“Good guy — always the good ones get killed,” a neighbor told The Post of Henderson, adding that the victim’s wife was at the hospital and with the medical examiner all night. “They’re a good family, good people. Messed up.”
Williams, Henderson’s friend, was angry Monday afternoon.
“Richie was one of my best friends,” he said. “We were minding our own business. We weren’t bothering anybody. We didn’t do no crimes. We didn’t do no shootings. Nothing. We were minding our f–king business when a crazy animal came on the train and wanted to f–k with us for no reason.
“My friend got shot on the train for no reason.”
