American Beaten to Death in Greece
Bakari Henderson of Austin, Texas and recent graduate of the University of Arizona was murdered on a resort island in Greece last week. Video has emerged of a large group of men chasing Henderson, pushing him into a car and viciously beating and kicking him. The fight lasted less than a minute and Henderson was dead shortly thereafter. There are mixed reports as to how the fight started, possibly over a waitress. Nine men have been detained in relation to the murder.
Not wanting to jump to conclusions, we will keep an eye on this story before commenting further. There are questions about the story, where were his friends, the fact that most of the men involved were Serbian, what was the waitress in question’s relationship with the men, was there a picture taken? As details become available we’ll try to piece together what actually happened, and why this young American ended up dead on foreign soil.
American Bakari Henderson was killed by a group of as many as 15 men because of an argument over a selfie at a bar on a Greek island, police said.
A confrontation began after Henderson, who was vacationing with friends, asked to take a picture with a waitress, and quickly escalated into a fistfight involving other customers and two bar employees, Greek police spokesman Theodore Chronopoulos told The Washington Post. The 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of Arizona was fatally beaten in a span of just 30 seconds, Chronopoulos said.
“They kicked and punched him to his body and his head,” he said. “His death came from hits in his head.”
Nine men have been arrested and charged with intentional homicide.
The fight happened during a bar night devoted to Serbians. Chronopoulos said one of the suspects, a 33-year-old Serbian, got in an argument with the waitress over the selfie. He also hit Henderson, who then smashed a beer bottle on the other customer’s table, Chronopoulos said. Soon, about 10 to 15 men chased Henderson outside the bar and immediately caught him. They left him lying on the ground after beating him.
A 15-minute surveillance video posted on YouTube shows Henderson running when a group of men smashed him against a car, beating and kicking him. The crowd around him dispersed after several seconds, and about two minutes into the video, someone can be seen performing CPR on him.
Chronopoulos, who confirmed to The Post that the video is authentic, said Henderson was running away from the suspects, the majority of whom are Serbians.
The police account of how the fight started inside the bar in Laganas, a tourist village on the island of Zakynthos, differs from descriptions by Henderson’s friends, who said he was minding his own business when the suspects confronted him.
Daniel Brown, one of three friends who were with Henderson in Zakynthos, told ABC News that they were speaking to no one when the suspects initiated the fight. He said they immediately started CPR on Henderson after the suspects left and rushed him to a hospital.
Travis Jenkins, another friend, told ABC News that Henderson was not the type to start or get involved in a fight.
“He was always the one who was the peacemaker,” Jenkins said.
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