Getty/Twitter The David Ortiz shooting was captured on video.
The shooting of former Red Sox player David Ortiz was captured on grainy surveillance video. You can watch the video below – it was published by Listin Diario, a major Dominican Republic publication – but be aware that it’s disturbing because of the moment it captures.
In the video, you see David Ortiz, known affectionately as “Big Papi,” sitting with a group of people when the gunman approaches him from behind and fires. That’s also essentially the account given by the national police in the Dominican Republic about what happened to the popular baseball player at a club on June 9, 2019. Ortiz’s assistant, Leo Lopez, told Diario Libre the attack was “an act of hired killers.” However, he denied a British publication’s unconfirmed claims that the hit was motivated by jealousy involving a woman.
Here’s the video:
Police now say that the shooting was a hit with at least six suspects involved and paid $7,800, the Associated Press is reporting; however, authorities still have not specified the motive or mastermind for the attack. They also arrested a man named Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz in connection with the shooting.
Here’s a closer version:
David Ortiz fuera de peligro. Anoche en un centro de diversiones llamado Dial Bar and Lounge, el pelotero dominicano recibió un disparo propinado por un joven de 25 años de nombre Eddy Feliz García.
Videos also emerged showing a man accused of being one of two suspects – Eddy Feliz Garcia – being beaten at the scene by enraged locals. El Dia reported that, according to National Police, Garcia is accused of being the driver of a motorcycle carrying the shooter, who is still at large. Suspect two was named as Oliver Mirabal. It’s also not clear whether he was the accused triggerman, though.
Here’s what you need to know:
Authorities Have Not Specified a Motive But They Say That Ortiz was Ambushed
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There were initially conflicting reports on the David Ortiz shooting – that he was shot in the leg; that it was a robbery. According to National Police, neither of those things was true.
Rather, National Police say that Ortiz was ambushed from behind by a shooter on a motorcycle who walked up and shot him. It wasn’t a robbery, they now say. Ortiz was shot in the back with the wound exiting his stomach. Dominican National Police Director Ney Aldrin Bautista gave that account, which was reported in the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers. He said the motive was under investigation.
Listin Diario, a Dominican publication, reported that “The person who shot was identified as Eddy Feliz García, who (has) drug trafficking records, according to the National Police.” Not much else was known about the accused suspect. However, it later emerged that police think Garcia was the getaway driver, not the gunman.
A press release from National Police makes it clear that there were two suspects and one was at large after the shooting.
The official press release from the National Police states that members of the Scientific Police are working to establish the sequence of events and to establish “if in the fact there are others involved.”
“The authorities have in their possession a motorcycle Bajaj Platina, in which the people involved moved, whose origin is investigated,” the release says in Spanish.
There are two suspects, according to the release, which says that “two young men showed up on the aforementioned motorcycle.”
“One of the occupants of the motorcycle approached the amusement center and made a single shot that hit the former player and his companion, after which they tried to escape on the motorcycle, falling to the pavement,” the release adds.
“One of the involved managed to escape on foot, while another, identified as Eddy Vladimir Felix Garcia, was arrested by the crowd that hit him and handed over to the authorities.”
The release adds: “The detainee, Felix Garcia, who resides in the sector of Las Caobas, Santo Domingo Oeste, and who appears with a registry for possession of drugs in 2017, suffered blows and injuries that caused him to people who were in the place, reason why He was transferred to the Doctor Dario Contreras hospital.”