Friend of American fatally beaten outside bar in Greece: "I never once saw him angry"

Local media reported a selfie with a waitress started the fight that killed Bakari Henderson, the American man who was beaten to death outside a bar in Greece.

However, his friends told "CBS This Morning" that this account is not true.

They said the attack began when Henderson and his friends put their drinks down near a group of men at a bar on the Greek island of Zakynthos.

We know how it ended, with a group of men -- mostly Serbian, according to investigators -- beating Henderson outside the bar. 

Friends back in his home state of Texas say they're not getting the answers they want about what took place that night and those who were in Greece are still trying to make sense of what happened, reports CBS News' Tony Dokoupil. 

"I never once saw him angry, I never saw him irritated, not even a little, slightest bit flustered," said Daniel Brown, a friend of Henderson who spoke to "CBS This Morning" before departing Greece. 

"My new life motto is 'blb' which stands for 'be like Bakari' and it's just a reminder to myself to always be humble, pursue my dreams and just never get upset by the little things in life," Brown said.

Brown says he was on his way to meet Henderson in the party destination of Laganas when the attack happened.

According to another friend who was there but didn't want to be identified, Henderson and his friends had set their beers on a table in a place called Bar Code when two men allegedly grabbed their bottles, broke them, and held them out like weapons. This sparked a fight that spilled out into the streets. At some point, Henderson became separated from his friends as more than 10 people started beating him.

Police have so far arrested eight men, including a bar employee and a bouncer for the deadly attack. Police say Henderson suffered severe head injuries.

"He was always extremely selfless and worried about everyone else before himself," Brown said of Henderson.

Henderson's close friend Megan McCray agreed.

"He was the most compassionate, like courageous, genuine friend I had growing up," McCray said.

McCray says she's not satisfied with the information she's getting about the death of Henderson, an aspiring entrepreneur who had just graduated college and was working to launch a new clothing line.

She says he wasn't the type to get into a bar fight.

"It was all  really kind of unsettling and hard to swallow because that wasn't the person we knew Bakari to be. All of my friends and family have been trying to get down to the bottom of why ten guys were against him," McCray said.

A spokeswoman for Henderson's family says they're still working with the U.S. State Department to bring his body home.

They hope that will happen this week. A GoFundMe account has now raised $40,000 to help with those costs.