Former Red Sox slugger David 'Big Papi' Ortiz was shot Sunday night at a bar in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, according to multiple sources.
Video surveillance from the scene shows a man get off a motorcycle, walk up behind the former Red Sox player and shoot at him at nearly point-blank range at around 8:50 p.m. Sunday night. Ortiz can be seen staggering for a moment before falling over. The former baseball player was rushed to a local hospital where he underwent surgery, in which his gallbladder and portions of his intestine were removed. The surgery was successful and Ortiz is currently in stable condition, one of the doctors who operated on the former Red Sox slugger told Dominican TV CDN 37. He remains in intensive care after being treated for bleeding in his liver, according to Leo Lopez, Ortiz's media assistant.
Ortiz is scheduled to be flown from the Dominican Republic to Boston Monday afternoon, for further treatment of the gunshot wound at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Ortiz was reportedly shot in the "lower back/abdominal region" and the bullet went through, exiting his stomach.
“They called to tell me that David is injured and that they took him to a medical center, but they did not tell me how he is or exactly where he was transferred,” Leo Ortiz told ESPN.com.
A local TV host Jhoel Lopez, who was with Ortiz at the time of the incident, was also shot in the incident.
A man identified as a suspect in the shooting was detained by a crowd of Ortiz's fans at the bar after they stopped him from fleeing the scene. The suspect was handed over to police, who have not offered a motive for the shooting. Ortiz does not know the suspect who was taken into custody and does not know why he was shot. Multiple people have been detained in connection with the shooting according to Felix Durán Mejia, a spokesperson for the national police told CNN.
The Red Sox issued a statement, offering Ortiz's family "all available resources to aid in his recovery and will continue to keep them in our hearts."
"Our thoughts are with David Ortiz, who is reportedly hospitalized after being shot in his hometown of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, per @Enrique_Rojas1," a tweet from Major League Baseball read.
The 43-year-old played in the major leagues for 20 seasons, 14 of those with the Boston Red Sox. During his time playing baseball, he hit an incredible 541 homers, he made 10 All-Star teams and won three World Series championships with Boston until retiring in 2016.
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