Local Reporter Reveals David Ortiz's Emotional Words to Emergency Room Doctors
The baseball world was in a state of shock after learning that Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz was shot in a club in his native Dominican Republic on Sunday night.
Ortiz was shot in the back at close range at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo around 8:50 p.m. Sunday.
Surveillance video shows a man coming up behind Ortiz and shooting him in the back, after which he fell backward.
“I’ve seen it,” Fernando Cuza, Ortiz’s agent, told CNN in reference to the video. “It’s him.”
Ortiz was transported to the Abel Gonzalez clinic, where he underwent surgery and is in stable condition. Ortiz’s father, Leo, told reporters outside the clinic that the slugger was out of danger and didn’t suffer any damage to major organs, CNN reported.
A local reporter tweeted Ortiz’s emotional words to the doctors who treated his gunshot wound.
“Please don’t let me die, I am a good man,” Ortiz said, according to Dominican journalist Dionisio Soldevila.
The reporter said Ortiz was shot between the left side of the lower back and the bullet left through his abdomen.
Cuenta la doctora en emergencia que David Ortiz dijo “por favor no me dejen morir, soy un hombre de bien”. Disparo entre por el lado izquierdo de la espalda baja y salio por el abdomen
— Dionisio Soldevila (@dSoldevila) June 10, 2019
The operation lasted six hours and was performed by three doctors, ESPN reported. The doctors had to remove part of Ortiz’s intestines and colon, as well as his gallbladder. He also suffered liver damage but is “on the road to recovery,” the report said.
“Doctors say he is out of danger, but he is heavily sedated and will be in intensive care for the next 24 hours,” Leo Lopez, Ortiz’s media assistant, told ESPN.
Leo Ortiz told ESPN that doctors believe his son will “recover quickly.”
“Big Papi will be around for a long time,” he said.
There’s been an outpouring of prayers and support for Ortiz, including from his former teammate, Pedro Martinez.
“I’m at peace knowing you out of danger; you a strong man Compai, can’t wait to hear your voice. My thoughts and prayers are with you, see you soon,” Martinez wrote on Twitter.
I’m at peace knowing you out of danger; you a strong man Compai, can’t wait to hear your voice. My thoughts and prayers are with you, see you soon.
Me siento tranquilo de saber que estás fuera de peligro, usted es fuerte Compai, ya quiero oírle la voz. Orando, nos vemos pronto pic.twitter.com/jdSnNsM7eI— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) June 10, 2019
The gunman, identified as Eddy Feliz Garcia, 25, is in police custody, police spokesman Col. Frank Duran Mejia said, ESPN reported.
“Dominican National Police Director Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte said Garcia was captured and beaten by a crowd of people at the bar,” the report said. “He suffered a cranium contusion and trauma to his thorax, left knee and right leg, according to the Dominican Republic’s National Health Service. He was treated at the Dario Contreras Hospital in Santo Domingo and then released to police custody.”
Eddy Bladimir Feliz Garcia, the alleged gunman in the David Ortiz shooting, has been treated at a local hospital and turned over to Dominican police. Garcia, 25, was severely beaten at the scene. https://t.co/o0zw6Ape58
— Bill Koch (@BillKoch25) June 10, 2019
Jhoel Lopez, a Dominican TV host who was with Ortiz, was wounded by the same bullet. ESPN reported that Lopez was shot in the leg, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Police are investigating the case.
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