By Sarah Valenzuela
New York Daily News
An arrest has been made after David Ortiz was shot in the Dominican Republic.
Ortiz was at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo when two people rode up on a motorcycle, approached and shot the former Red Sox All-Star in the lower back at “nearly point blank range,” according to TMZ and Diario Libre.
One of the suspects, identified later as 25-year-old Eddy Feliz Garcia who was also the suspected gunman of the two, was tracked down and brutally beaten by others near the scene before being arrested. The other is still at large, as police have not yet tracked him down.
Police have confirmed that the suspect in custody is the same man shown being beaten in videos circulated widely on social media.
The crime was initially reported as a robbery, though Dominican police have denied those reports and are still investigating whether the shooting was an attempted assassination.
Ortiz is said to be in stable condition but remains in the intensive care unit at Clinica Abel Gonzalez recovering from surgery. His last surgery ended around 3:30 a.m. Monday morning, according to ESPN’s Marly Rivera. Doctors apparently had to remove his gallbladder and part of his intestines and control the bleeding from his liver.
TMZ reported when Ortiz arrived he said, “Please don’t let me die. I’m a good man.”
Red Sox try to focus on baseball after news of David Ortiz
BOSTON — Chris Sale’s first pitch Monday signified the return of business as usual for the Red Sox.
Boston’s organization and fan base had been through a harrowing previous night, with reports of David Ortiz being shot in his native Dominican Republic burning through social media. Red Sox front office members Sam Kennedy, Dave Dombrowski and Eddie Romero addressed the incident in an afternoon press conference, and club owner John Henry was also on hand.
All of this took place before manager Alex Cora’s typical pregame briefing. Cora took no baseball questions during his 10 minutes at the microphone, instead focusing on the health of his friend and former Boston teammate. He said there were no thoughts of cancelling or postponing Monday’s contest, but Red Sox players were obviously a bit preoccupied by the shocking news.
“We’ll find a way because that’s what we have to do,” Cora said. “It’s not easy. I know we’ve got to go out there and perform. We have to. We’ll find a way to do it.”
Kennedy said there were no formal tributes planned to honor Ortiz, but the club would make some sort of acknowledgement of his injuries and medical status. Boston waited until the early hours of Monday morning to make any formal statement, still attempting to gather accurate information.
“It was jarring,” Kennedy said. “It was frankly stunning and terrifying. It was a horrific incident.”
Henry, Kennedy, Dombrowski and Romero addressed Red Sox players later Monday afternoon. Dombrowski said Cora might have had some individual conversations with players as well. Boston counts three natives of the Dominican Republic on their 25-man roster —Rafael Devers, Marco Hernandez and Eduardo Nunez.
“For us that believe, just pray for him,” Cora said. “Keep your positive vibes. This guy, I always said that he’s bigger than life.”
— Bill Koch, The Providence Journal
