The family of Johnathan Hamby is apologizing to the loved ones of Ramon Harris after Harris was fatally stabbed Sunday on Atlanta’s Beltline. Hamby, 54, is accused of stabbing Harris, 29, in the neck during a confrontation near Ponce de Leon Avenue. Harris was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
The family released a statement Tuesday that went beyond an apology. Relatives said they had spent years trying to get help for Hamby and believed the legal system repeatedly failed to provide the kind of long-term intervention they were seeking. They said they are deeply sorry for the pain caused to Harris’ family and to the Atlanta community.
According to the family, Hamby has a severe mental illness that causes episodes of psychosis. They said he sometimes believes people around him are attacking him, even when they are simply nearby. The family also said Hamby does not recognize the seriousness of his illness, making it difficult for him to follow treatment orders on his own.
Police say Hamby has been arrested at least 30 times. He is also a convicted felon and was on active probation for an earlier aggravated-assault case when Sunday’s stabbing happened. Court records show he pleaded guilty in 2020 to aggravated assault with a knife tied to a 2017 stabbing and received a lengthy probation sentence.
The family also pointed to an earlier incident involving a three-foot samurai-style sword at a Chamblee elementary school. Relatives said Hamby entered the school while experiencing a delusion that he needed to charge his cellphone there. They said he was jailed briefly and later released after the incident was handled as a misdemeanor. Those details came from the family’s statement.
Sunday’s confrontation unfolded near the Beltline’s Eastside Trail and a Kroger on Ponce de Leon Avenue. An arrest warrant says Hamby argued with two men before threatening to stab them. He allegedly lunged at Harris and stabbed him in the neck. Police later recovered weapons near the scene.
Hamby now faces murder, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and acts, and a weapons-related felony charge. He waived his first court appearance Monday. His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 15. Police have also released body-camera footage showing officers taking Hamby into custody shortly after the stabbing.
The family says it had repeatedly asked the courts for a legal arrangement that would allow relatives to help manage Hamby’s treatment, housing and access to weapons. They are now asking Georgia lawmakers to create what they call a Family-Led Structured Decision-Making Act. Their proposal would give qualifying families a legal path to manage certain high-risk decisions involving relatives with severe psychiatric illness.
The family said the goal is not to excuse what happened or erase Hamby’s responsibility. Instead, relatives say they want lawmakers to address what they believe is a gap between short jail stays and full guardianship. Their statement argues that families need another option when a person repeatedly enters a cycle of arrests, release and untreated psychiatric crisis.
For Harris’ family, however, the policy debate comes after a life has already been lost. Ramon Harris was 29 when he went to the Beltline on Sunday and became the victim of a deadly confrontation with a man police say he did not know. The investigation and court case are now moving forward as Atlanta continues to deal with the questions raised by his death.
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