David Ortiz, also known as Big Papi, was shot while vacationing ins his native Dominican Republic, prompting many people to ask for a boycott of the island.
In the past few weeks, at least three American tourists died in the Dominican Republic due to mysterious illnesses.
The former Major League Baseball star along with Jhoel Lopez was having fun at an open-air bar when a man named Eddy Feliz Garcia got off the back of a motorcycle and reportedly shot Mr. Ortiz in the back.
Wow. Follow the arrows on this video of the David Ortiz shooting.
This wasn’t a robbbery attempt like the media is portraying.
This was a straight up assasanation attempt
Watch ? https://t.co/tAelJShKyG
— James T. Yoder (@JamesYoder) June 10, 2019
Mr. Lopez was also injured in the incident, according to Dominican National Police spokesperson Durán Mejia.
According to several local media reports, the bullet entered Ortiz’s lower back, and it may have been an attempted contract killing.
Garcia, the man, who allegedly tried to murder the retired Boston Red Sox slugger, was detained and beaten by a group of people who witnessed the incident. Garcia has been arrested.
Ortiz was rushed to a local hospital in Santo Domingo where he told ER doctors: “Please don’t let me die. I’m a good man.”
Leo Ortiz, the father of the former athlete, spoke to ESPN via telephone from the Dominican Republic and explained: “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. At the moment, everything is confusing. I’m trying to find out where they took my son.”
Many have flooded to social media to react to the disturbing news. This fan of the former baseball star came up with the following idea: “The DR isn’t the place to be right now. Shameless plug: start vacationing in HAITI instead all of you.”
A person, who is shaken by the crimes committed on the island, had this to say: “What is going on with the DR? This is like the 6th story I’ve heard in the last month of Americans going there and either getting hurt or killed smh.”
This tourist, who recently visited the island, claimed: “DR isn’t as bad as it seems. I was there from Wednesday and got back today. Things like this happen all over the world. So we were just going to cancel DR. Are we canceling our neighborhoods when something happens? There are always THREE sides to a story; A, B & the truth. We weren’t there, so we don’t know the full details about anything!”
This popular tourist destination has a serious PR problem at the moment.
