David Ortiz released from hospital after shooting in Dominican Republic

ByMATTHEW STONE ABCNews logo
Saturday, July 27, 2019

Nearly seven weeks after being shot in a bar in his native Dominican Republic, David Ortiz has been released from hospital.

The former Red Sox, known affectionately as "Big Papi," was shot while in a bar in Santo Domingo on June 9. The shooting was captured on surveillance video.

He was released from Massachusetts General Hospital, ABC News has learned.

His condition will be updated early next week, the Red Sox said in a statement.

The slugger underwent at least three surgeries after he was shot in the back.

An investigation in the shooting, at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo, revealed a botched plot intended to target a friend of Ortiz, Sixto David Fernandez.

Ortiz and Fernandez were sitting at the bar when a gunman came behind the retired baseball player and opened fire.

Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz, 25, of New Jersey, was arrested and identified as the alleged gunman who shot Ortiz. Thirteen other suspects have been arrested.

Victor Hugo Gomez, who is a cousin of Fernandez, was named by authorities as the mastermind of the shooting and was arrested on June 28 in the Dominican Republic. He was allegedly angry at Fernandez for naming him in a 2011 drug bust that led to his imprisonment.

Dominican police suspect Gomez paid the team of alleged would-be killers about $8,000 to carry out the hit on Fernandez.

One suspect, Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota, who goes by the nickname "The Surgeon," remains at large.

ABC News' Bill Hutchinson and Ben Stein contributed to this report.

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