David Ortiz Shooting Suspect Killed in Dominican Republic
The man accused of shooting baseball legend David Ortiz in June 2019 was killed Sunday in the Dominican Republic, according to Dominican newspaper Listin Diario (per MSN). Luis Alfredo Rivas-Clase was reportedly shot and killed Sunday afternoon. He was driving and pursued by men in another vehicle who fired several shots in front of the Colinas Mall complex. A total of 14 people were arrested in Ortiz's shooting, and Rivas-Clase was the 15th suspect.
Ortiz was shot in the lower back and underwent multiple surgeries in the Dominican Republic and the United States. It was reported that Otiz was sitting next to the intended victim of the shooting and that he was not the target. Fifty days after the shooting, Ortiz was released from the hospital. In September 2019, the Boston Red Sox legend spoke on the incident.
"People need to understand, this isn't a movie where you get shot in the street and you're back two minutes later," he said to the Boston Globe. "No, I got shot and almost died. I only have one life to live. I can't just go to the pharmacy and buy another one." Ortiz went on to say: "I want to find out who did this. "I'm not going to sit around and chill if there's somebody out there who wants to kill me."
Ortiz, 45, began his MLB career in 1997 as a member of the Minnesota Twins. He was with the Twins for six seasons before joining the Red Sox in 2003. In his 14 seasons in Boston, Ortiz was selected to the All-Star game 10 times and won three World Series titles. For his career, Ortiz hit 541 home runs while recording 1,768 RBIs. The Red Sox retired Ortiz's No. 34 jersey and he's a member of the team's Hall of Fame.
"I like to embrace people, make them feel comfortable around me. I was always very accessible, but I think I'm going to cut down on that a little now," Ortiz said after the shooting. "One lesson I've learned is that you can't be naive. There are a lot of things going on now that you have to be aware of. I need to pay attention and be more careful."