Authorities: David Ortiz wasn’t target of shooting
AG: Gunman confused Red Sox icon for friend
The Dominican Republic’s chief prosecutor said Red Sox icon David Ortiz was not the intended target of the June 9 shooting that put his life in peril but was the victim of a hit gone wrong.
Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez said in a news conference Wednesday that Sixto David Fernandez, a friend of Ortiz’s who shared a table with him that night at the Dial Bar and Lounge in the capital city of Santo Domingo, was the real target.
Rodriguez added that a fugitive named Victor Hugo Gomez, whom he said is wanted by U.S. law enforcement, ordered the killing of Fernandez because of a longtime beef over supposedly providing information to the police about him.
Rodriguez said the gunman, identified by police as Rolfi Ferreira Cruz, was handed a photo of the intended victim but the lighting made it look like Fernandez was wearing white pants, as Ortiz was that night, and confused one for the other.
National Police Chief Ney Aldrin Bautista went on to describe an intricate plot purportedly masterminded by Gomez to extract payback on Fernandez by hiring an inmate he met when both spent time in a Dominican jail.
“Sixto David Fernandez pointed to Victor Hugo Gomez as the only person who may want to attempt to kill him, which he had already expressed through repeated threatening messages,” Rodriguez said.
The attorney general also said he interviewed Ortiz the day after the incident and the former baseball star known as “Big Papi” insisted he didn’t know anyone who would want to harm him and that he had not received any threats.
Ortiz, 43, was shot in the back at point-blank range while sitting in the bar’s patio. He is perhaps the bestknown Dominican on the planet, but the shooter came in from behind and might not have seen his famous face.
Dominican police have arrested 11 persons in connection with the case, but until Wednesday they had not provided a motive for the attack.
In the absence of an official version, unconfirmed stories about a liaison with the girlfriend of a drug kingpin and other speculation have filled the void.
Ortiz, who became one of the most popular players in Red Sox history as he led them to three World Series championships, remains in the intensive care unit of Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital. His wife, Tiffany, said Tuesday that his condition has been upgraded from “guarded” to “good.”
The previous day, Dominican authorities identified fugitive Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota as the man they believe paid the hitmen to attack Ortiz in a case that has drawn worldwide attention.
Ferreira Cruz escaped after the shooting but was later captured. His alleged accomplice, identified as Eddy Vladimir Feliz Garcia, fell off his getaway motorcycle and was pummeled by an enraged crowd before being handed over to police.