A 45-year-old Black man who was gunned down in an NYC subway car is being remembered as a hero by those who knew him.
According to the New York Police Department, Richard Henderson was fatally shot while trying to de-escalate an altercation between two subway riders over loud music. He reportedly headed home on the 3 train in Brooklyn after watching Sunday night football at a friends house, his brother told CBS New York. When a train rider loudly playing their music to began to irritate people, an argument to erupt inside the train car, according to The New York Times.
Witnesses told CBS the train was reaching the Rockaway Avenue stop in Brownsville when Henderson stepped in the middle of the altercation. Then someone involved in the altercation pulled a firearm and shot Henderson in the back and shoulder, police said. He was only three stops away from his home.
Train riders alerted the conductor of the incident, and the train skipped multiple stops to an emergency station where the police responded, according a report. Henderson was transported to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His wife, Jakeba, told The Times he worked as a crossing guard at a private school in Manhattan. She also said their 20th anniversary was approaching next month. Henderson left behind three children and two granddaughters. His neighbors also remembered him as a kind man who got along with everyone and always wanted to do good things.
“He got shot stepping into an altercation that he had nothing to do with. He died a hero. He died doing what he did, taking up for the weak,” Mrs. Henderson told The Times.
NYPD statistics show crime was down 11 percent in 2023 in comparison to the previous year. However, major subway crimes such as the fatal choking of Jordan Neely or people being randomly shoved onto train tracks have many New Yorkers on edge.
Henderson’s shooter is still at large.
Anyone with information about the shooting or the shooting suspect is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip to @NYPDTips via X (Twitter).