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6
suspects,
including
gunman,
arrested
in Ortiz
shooting
By
MICHAEL
WEISSENSTEIN
APNews.com
SANTO
DOMINGO,
DR -
An
alleged
gunman
and five
accomplices
have
been
detained
in the
shooting
of
former
Red Sox
superstar
David
Ortiz,
Dominican
officials
said
Wednesday,
while
providing
no
information
about
why a
group of
young
men
would
try to
kill
their
country’s
most
beloved
sports
hero.
Four
other
suspects
were
also
being
pursued
in the
shooting,
which
witnesses
said was
carried
out by
two men
on a
motorcycle,
assisted
by two
other
groups
of
people
in cars.
“At
this
moment,
they are
being
interrogated
and we
will
continue
deepening
the
investigation
to get
to the
truth
about
what
happened,”
Chief
Prosecutor
Jean
Alain
Rodríguez
said.
“Nobody
involved
in this
unfortunate
episode
will
escape
justice,
neither
those
who
carried
it out
nor the
mastermind,”
he said.
The
national
police
director,
Maj.
Gen. Ney
Aldrin
Bautista
Almonte,
said the
coordinator
of the
attack
was
offered
400,000
Dominican
pesos,
or about
$7,800,
to
orchestrate
the
shooting.
He said
the
alleged
coordinator
was also
among
those in
custody.
Rodríguez
and
Bautista
declined
to give
a motive
for the
shooting
at a
popular
Santo
Domingo
bar
Sunday
night or
say who
had
hired
the
attackers.
A
man has
been
charged
in
relation
to the
shooting
of
retired
Boston
Red Sox
star
David
Ortiz.
It's
believed
Féliz
Garcia
was
driving
the
motorcycle
carrying
the
gunman
who shot
Ortiz in
a bar in
Santo
Domingo,
Dominican
Republic,
Sunday
night.
(June
12)
They
promised,
however,
that all
those
who
targeted
Ortiz in
the
baseball-crazy
Caribbean
country
would be
brought
to
justice.
“We
recognize
the
symbolism
that
David
Ortiz
represents,
and we
promise
that
this
case
will be
cleared
up
completely,”
Bautista
said.
Ortiz is
one of
the most
beloved
figures
in
sports
history
in the
Dominican
Republic
and
Boston,
a
fearsome
power
hitter
with a
ready
smile.
The
slugger
known as
Big Papi
led the
Red Sox
to three
World
Series
championships,
was a
10-time
All-Star
and hit
541 home
runs.
The
Red Sox
retired
his
number,
34, in
2017 — a
year
after he
retired
— and
Boston
renamed
a bridge
and a
stretch
of road
outside
Fenway
Park in
his
honor.
He
maintains
a home
in
Weston,
on the
outskirts
of
Boston.
Ortiz
galvanized
the city
in the
aftermath
of the
2013
Boston
Marathon
bombing
that
left
three
people
dead,
bellowing
through
a
megaphone
at
Fenway
Park:
“This is
our
(expletive)
city!”
While
Ortiz
lived in
Boston,
he
visited
the
Dominican
Republic
at least
six
times a
year,
where he
crossed
paths
with a
wide
variety
of
figures
from the
country’s
legitimate
and
illegal
business
worlds,
according
to
friends.
Ortiz
studiously
avoided
mixing
with
shady
characters,
but a
law-enforcement
official
said on
condition
of
anonymity
that
officials
were
investigating
whether
Ortiz
may have
formed
some
relationship
or
acquaintance
during a
trip
here
that,
without
his
knowledge,
set off
the
chain of
events
leading
to his
shooting.
Among
the
suspects
in
custody
was the
alleged
shooter,
identified
by
authorities
as Rolfy
Ferreyra,
aka
Sandy, a
skinny,
tattooed
25-year-old
who
officials
said had
confessed
to the
shooting.
In a
statement,
officials
said the
weapon
used, a
Browning
Hi Power
semi-automatic
pistol,
had been
handed
to
suspect
Oliver
Moises
Mirabal
Acosta,
then to
suspect
Porfirio
Allende
Dechamps
Vasquez,
AKA The
Kid, who
buried
it in
the
garden
of his
home.
Both
men have
been
arrested
and the
gun has
been
recovered.
Also
under
arrest
were
Joel
Rodríguez
de la
Cruz,
aka
Squiddy;
Reynaldo
Rodríguez
Valenzuela,
aka The
Chinaman;
and the
suspected
driver
of the
motorcycle,
Eddy
Vladimir
Feliz
García,
aka The
Package.
Many
were
caught
in the
same
clothes
they
were
seen
wearing
on
surveillance
video,
Bautista
said.
The
four
suspects
still at
large
were
identified
as Luis
Alfredo
Rivas
Clase,
aka The
Surgeon,
as well
as a
woman
known as
The
Venezuelan,
or Red,
and two
other
men,
prosecutors
said in
a
statement.
Meanwhile,
in
Boston,
Ortiz’s
wife
said in
statement
that the
former
Red Sox
slugger
was able
to sit
up and
take
some
steps as
he
recuperates
in the
intensive
care
unit at
Massachusetts
General
Hospital.
“His
condition
is
guarded,
and he
will
remain
in the
ICU for
the
coming
days,
but he
is
making
good
progress
toward
recovery,”
Tiffany
Ortiz
said in
the
statement.
Prosecutors
said
security
camera
footage
showed
two men
on the
motorcycle
talking
with
other
people
in a
gray
Hyundai
Accent
and in
another
Hyundai
in a
nearby
street
before
the
shooting.
One
of the
suspects,
Mirabal
Acosta,
was seen
driving
the
Accent
before
mounting
a
motorcycle
driven
by the
25-year-old
Feliz
García,
the
prosecutors
said in
a court
document.
“In
one of
the
videos
it was
possible
to
observe
both the
accused
and the
shooter
planning
the
commission
of the
incident,”
the
prosecutors
said.
The
document
also
revealed
ineptitude,
saying
the
motorcycle
driver
was
captured
after he
skidded
and fell
off his
bike as
the pair
tried to
flee.
Enraged
fans
captured
García
and beat
him
bloody
before
handing
him over
to
police.
Mirabal
Acosta
was
captured
Tuesday
night in
the town
of Mao
in the
northern
Dominican
Republic.
García’s
lawyer
said his
client,
who has
been
charged
with
being an
accomplice
to
attempted
murder,
is an
innocent
motorcycle
taxi
driver
who had
no idea
his
passenger
was
going to
commit a
crime.
“He
didn’t
know
what
they
were
going to
do. He’s
a fan of
David’s,”
the
attorney,
Deivi
Solano,
said
Tuesday.
Ortiz’s
father
and a
sister
live in
Santo
Domingo
and the
43-year-old
former
Red Sox
great
was
active
on the
social
scene
here,
hitting
nightspots
with
friends
who
included
TV
personalities
and
Dominican
reggaeton
musicians.
Beloved
in his
hometown,
Ortiz
traveled
the
dangerous
streets
of the
Dominican
capital
with
little
or no
security,
trusting
his fans
to
protect
him,
according
to
friends.
The
Dominican
Republic
is one
of the
world’s
most
dangerous
countries.
The
murder
rate
stands
at 12.5
killings
per
100,000
people,
placing
the
Dominican
Republic
in the
top 10%
to 15%
of the
most
violent
countries,
according
to the
U.S.
State
Department.
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