Police Say U.S. Tourist Was Beaten to Death in Greece Over a Selfie
Police say that 22-year-old U.S. tourist Bakari Henderson was beaten to death by a mob over an argument about a selfie.
According to police, American tourist Bakari Henderson was beaten to death by a group of as many as 15 men after an argument over a selfie escalated to the point of violence at a bar on the Greek resort island of Zakynthos. This event occurred on this past Friday morning.
The 22-year-old Henderson, who was visiting the island with friends, reportedly asked to take a picture with a waitress, which led to a fist fight with a pair of bar employees as well as some customers. According to the Washington Post, surveillance footage of the incident shows that Henderson was killed in less than a minute. A police spokesman said that the fatal blows came from being hit repeatedly in the head. Thus far nine men have been charged with intentional homicide. Though police say that the law bars them from revealing the suspects' names, all nine of those men will appear in court at some point this week.
One of the suspects allegedly began to argue with the waitress over the selfie. According to that same police spokesman, he then hit Henderson and busted a bottle of beer on a separate customer's table. Shortly after that a group of 10-15 men chased Henderson out of the bar where the gruesome assault occurred.
However, according to Henderson's friends who contradicted that description of events, he was minding his own business when he was approached by the mob of suspects. Daniel Brown, one of a trio of friends who was with Henderson, relayed to ABC News that they were not talking to anyone when the confrontation arose.
On Friday evening, Henderson's family released a statement that said:
"Bakari loved spending time with family and friends, traveling, and meeting new people. He was a big thinker and enjoyed coming up with new business ventures. Bakari was an inspiration to all he met. He loved life and lived it to the fullest. We would like to thank our family, friends and the Austin community for your prayers, love and support.”
His family also added that the recent University of Arizona grad was in Greece to put together a photo shoot for a new clothing line he was planning to launch. They further claimed that he had internships lined up with the Texas legislature. Additionally, a GoFundMe page was established to raise money for transportation costs to return his body to the U.S. (which is expected later this week) as well as for funeral costs. As of Tuesday night, a total of nearly $48,000 of the $80,000 goal had been donated.
