The 49-year-old Oakland man who was fatally stabbed aboard a BART train on Tuesday is being remembered by his loved ones as a kind and helpful person who was always quick to defend others against bullies.

Oliver T. Williams, who was known to his friends and family as Tyrone Hodges, was killed Tuesday afternoon after reportedly trying to stop a suspect from stealing the shoes off a sleeping man. The suspect, 39-year-old Jermaine Jeremiah Brim, had recently wandered away from a San Leandro psychiatric facility and was listed as missing and "at risk." He's alleged to have gotten into a fight with Hodges after boarding a Warm Springs-bound train at Bayfair Station, and then fatally stabbing Hodges with his own knife. Witnesses say that Hodges pulled out his knife in order to defend himself against Brim.

Brim proceeded to exit the train at South Hayward and then allegedly attempted a carjacking at a nearby car dealership.

When she heard the story of how Hodges died, his niece Aliyah McGrue tells ABC 7 she thought, "That sounds like him." "He always tried to help people. I'm not shocked to hear he tried to help somebody the other day," McGrue said.

A woman calling herself Hodges' best friend, Rose Cardoza, tells KRON4 that the story rings true for her as well, saying the Hodges never liked seeing anyone get picked on.

Hodges was a musician, fan of Bob Marley, and a fan of the Raiders, his family says, and he was about to become a grandfather. His Facebook page shows that he attended Newark Memorial High School, and grew up in Fremont.  

Brim was scheduled to be arraigned in an Alameda County court today at 2 p.m. A resident of San Francisco in recent years — he has a felony gun charge in SF from May — he gave an address in Sacramento when he was booked into Santa Rita jail, as NBC Bay Area reports.

Previously: Shoeless Sacramento Man Suspected of Murder On BART Train In Hayward