DR AG: Ortiz taking pictures case of mistaken identification

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Former Purple Sox slugger David Ortiz was shot within the again by a gunman who mistook him for the actual goal, one other man who was seated on the identical desk at an out of doors cafe, Dominican officers mentioned Wednesday.

The Dominican Republic’s lawyer common and the nationwide police director advised reporters that the tried homicide was ordered from the USA by Victor Hugo Gomez, an affiliate of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel. They mentioned Gomez had employed a gang of killers to remove his cousin, whom Gomez suspected of turning him in to Dominican drug investigators in 2011.

The cousin, Sixto David Fernandez, was seated with the previous baseball star on the evening of June 9, when a gunman approached and fired a single shot at Ortiz, the officers mentioned. Fernandez owned an auto-repair store and was buddies with Ortiz, in line with Lawyer Normal Jean Alain Rodriguez and Maj. Gen. Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte, director of the Dominican Republic’s nationwide police.

Ortiz stays hospitalized in Boston, the place medical doctors have upgraded his situation from guarded to good.

Not less than 11 individuals have been arrested within the case to date, starting from the alleged gunman to a sequence of drivers and comparatively minor accomplices. Rodriguez and Bautista mentioned the case of mistaken identification started when one of many accomplices snapped a blurry picture of Fernandez seated on the Dial Bar and Lounge in an upscale part of Santo Domingo. Within the picture, a white freezer obscures Fernandez’s decrease physique, making it appear to be he was carrying white pants when, in truth, he was carrying black pants, officers mentioned.

“It was a badly lit picture taken minutes earlier than the assault,” the chief prosecutor mentioned.

Ortiz was carrying white pants on the evening of the taking pictures and law-enforcement officers mentioned that the gunman, Rolfy Ferreyra, mistook him for the goal and fired.

Jean Alain Rodriguez, the Dominican Republic’s lawyer common, mentioned Wednesday that David Ortiz was not the supposed goal when he was shot in an evening membership in Santo Domingo on June 9. Orlando Barria/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Nonetheless, many Dominicans have been skeptical that their nation’s most well-known particular person, a 6-foot, Three-inch man weighing round 250 kilos, may very well be mistaken for Fernandez, who seemed to be far smaller with a lighter complexion in a photograph offered by authorities.

“He’s massive. He likes to draw consideration,” mentioned Daniel Pou, an unbiased advisor on public safety. “He wears a whole lot of jewellery. He is flashy throughout.”

The alleged shooter is a thin, tattooed 25-year-old whom U.S. prosecutors mentioned is needed on armed theft and gun expenses in New Jersey. His driver was captured instantly after the taking pictures when he fell off the motorbike he was attempting to make use of to flee.

Ferreyra and the opposite suspects have been captured over the subsequent few days. Ferreyra advised reporters from the window of a jail cell this week that he didn’t imply to shoot Ortiz, however fired at him in confusion over his clothes.

Gomez, the alleged mastermind, is believed to be in the USA and is being sought by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bautista mentioned, pointing to a information report wherein federal authorities recognized Gomez as one in every of a number of suspects in a March 2019 drug trafficking sting in Houston, Texas.

The weapon used within the taking pictures, a Browning Hello Energy semiautomatic pistol, was buried within the backyard of one of many suspect’s residence and was later turned over to police by his mom, in line with courtroom paperwork obtained by The Related Press.

Additionally accused is Gabriel Alexander Perez Vizcaino, aka Bone, whom they are saying was employed by somebody who’s in jail on unrelated expenses to be the liaison between the hit males and the one who paid them. Authorities say Perez shared the image of the goal as he met the opposite suspects at a close-by gasoline station simply minutes earlier than the taking pictures.

They mentioned Perez then bought the cellphone used to plan the assault and to distribute an image of the goal to a girl for $180 so he might do away with the proof a day after the taking pictures.

Police are nonetheless in search of no less than three different suspects: a girl generally known as The Venezuelan or Purple; Luis Alfredo Rivas Clase, aka The Surgeon, who is needed for a 2018 taking pictures in Studying, Pennsylvania, and was believed to be driving a automobile used to stalk Fernandez; and Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota, whom authorities imagine paid the hit males. Authorities have mentioned the coordinator of assault was provided 400,000 Dominican pesos, or about $7,800.

A video from the scene of the taking pictures exhibits everybody fleeing or crouching aside from Rodriguez, who stands calmly amid the chaos.

“He grabbed his beer to ensure it was protected,” Bautista mentioned.

Authorities are also investigating Fernandez, the supposed goal, Bautista added.

Ortiz is recovering at Massachusetts Normal Hospital. Medical doctors within the Dominican Republic eliminated his gallbladder and a part of his gut earlier than he was wheeled into an air ambulance despatched by the Purple Sox and flown to Boston.

He led the Purple Sox to 3 World Collection championships, was a 10-time All Star and hit 541 residence runs. The Purple Sox retired his quantity, 34, in 2017, and he has a bridge and a stretch of street exterior Fenway Park named after him. He has a house in Weston, on the outskirts of Boston, that he shared together with his spouse and three kids earlier than placing it up on the market.

Though he lives in Boston, the 43-year-old Ortiz visits the Dominican Republic a number of instances a 12 months. His father and sister dwell in Santo Domingo.