An Arlington teenager learned about the value of friendship after a robber stole everything he had.
Ayman Arafa, 17, thought he had found a deal using the smart phone app "Offer Up."
A man offered to sell a new iPhone 7 for $350.
But when Arafa, a pre-dental student at Tarrant Community College, went to meet the seller at an apartment complex in South Dallas last Wednesday night, it was a setup.
"I was put to the ground and then they told me to not move," he said. "He pulled out the gun. I just said, 'Please don't shoot.'"
Arafa was beaten and robbed.
They snatched his phone, his billfold full of cash and his car.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I went through," he said.
Arafa's friends couldn't believe it and wanted to help.
"I was shocked," said Mamoun Samman. "We thought we had to go and do something. The nature of our friendship, we have the wildest ideas."
So they all pitched in and bought Arafa a new cell phone, a billfold – with cash inside – and even a new car.
"It was really big," Arafa said. "They surprised me really good."
The friends said they donated whatever they could afford.
"It wasn't much for us individually to contribute to something like that," Samman said. "But at the end of the day, there's no price on friendship."
Arafa said he always knew he had good friends but now sees them in a different light.
"It went from friendship to family because most of these are all brothers to me," he said. "I love every one of them."
