Mom says son — her ‘gentle giant’ — died ‘saving two people he didn’t know from being hurt or killed’

Standing at 6-foot-10, Jamel Henton was a “gentle giant” who went out of his way to be “kind and respectful to everyone,” his mother recalls.

Last week, Henton went to break up a fight in Edgewater, coming to the aid of two people being attacked, when he was stabbed to death, according to police and his family.

“[He was] saving two people he didn’t know from being hurt or killed,” said his mother Aisha Barton. “Many have deemed him a hero but to me, Jamel was my youngest child and my only son that was stolen from me and is now gone.”

Henton had seen a woman trying to stab two people on a sidewalk in the 5200 block of North Sheridan Road when he intervened around 11:40 p.m. last Wednesday, police said.

The woman stabbed Henton in the chest and he was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Isis Monae, 23, was charged with murder and ordered held without bail over the weekend. A judge ordered her to undergo psychiatric tests, saying Monae apparently suffered from “severe mental health issues, memory problems and substance abuse.”

Henton worked at Potbelly’s and had just begun enrolling in classes at Oakton Community College, according to his family.

They posted a GoFundMe page over the weekend requesting help paying for funeral and burial costs.