By Adrian Covert
New York Daily News
David Ortiz was shot in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Sunday night, which was first reported by Dominican outlets CDN 37 and Diario Libre.
Ortiz was said to be with television personality Jhoel Lopez at Dial Bar and Lounge in the Ensanche Ozama/Zona Oriental area, and was taken to the Abel Gonzalez Center for Advanced Medicine. It is also believed that Lopez was injured in the incident.
While it was initially thought that Ortiz had been shot in the leg during an attempted robbery, new reports have surfaced which suggest that Ortiz was shot in the lower back.
Director of National Police Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte also confirmed to media in front of the hospital that Ortiz is in stable condition, and that the attack had nothing to do with an attempted robbery. Additional reports from ESPN and CDN 37 claim that surgery was performed on Ortiz.
Diario Libre, as well as ESPN Deportes’ Enrique Rojas and Marly Rivera, are both reporting that they spoke with Ortiz’ father, Leo Ortiz, who confirmed that he received a call informing him that David Ortiz had been injured and was being taken to a medical center, but did not receive further details. Rivera, speaking to Dominican journalist Dionisio Soldevila, went on to report that Ortiz underwent surgery for a bullet wound in the lower back.
Videos have also surfaced on Twitter that claim to feature the alleged gunman. In the videos, the gunman, who was apparently detained, had been attacked and beaten by people in the area.
Another video purports to show security footage of the club clearing out at the moment gunshots were fired.
Ortiz played 20 big league seasons and was a 10-time All-Star. He broke into the majors in 1997 with the Twins, but was released following the 2002 season as a cost-saving measure.
After being recruited by Pedro Martinez, Ortiz played the rest of his career in Boston, where he was the heart of Red Sox teams that won World Series titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013. The title in 2004 was the team’s first in 86 years, and Ortiz batted .400 with five home runs in that postseason run.
The Dominican slugger retired following the 2016 season, and ranks 17th on the all-time home run list with 541. In 2009, it was reported that Ortiz was included on a list of about 100 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs compiled during spring training of 2003.
The list was never intended to be made public, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has since stated that because the tests were meant only to be a broad survey of PED use, and was thus not as scientifically rigorous as a modern test would be, there’s no way to definitively say if the players rumored to have been on the list actually did anything wrong.
