Ten days after David Ortiz was shot while lounging in a nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Attorney General said it was a case of mistaken identity.
This latest development in the investigation of the shooting of former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz now raises even more questions than we initially had. How could “Big Papi,” a large man in stature with mass popularity in the Dominican Republic be mistakenly shot in his native country?
Forgive if what you’re about to read sounds like a conspiracy theory, but It all just doesn’t make sense.
The first piece of evidence to disprove this theory is that the apparent intended target, Sixto David Fernandez, looks nothing like Ortiz. A picture posted by Diario Libre (below) shows two distinctively looking gentlemen toasting while sitting outside of a bar.
One, Ortiz, is much larger in stature with facial hair and expensive jewelry on his ears, around his neck, on his fingers, and wrist. The other, Fernandez, looks less eccentric, for lack of a better word.
Vista de David Ortiz y Sixto David Fernández mientras compartían en el bar momentos antes del atentado. Autoridades dicen que sicario confundieron la ropa.#DiarioLibre #DL #DavidOrtiz pic.twitter.com/kFgY5iYbfG
— Diario Libre (@DiarioLibre) June 19, 2019
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Related to this point, in the press conference, the chief prosecutor stated that “a badly lit photo taken minutes before the attack” and sent to the assassin made it look like Fernandez — the alleged intended target — was wearing white pants that night. In fact, according to AP News, and video evidence, Fernandez was wearing black pants that evening. Ortiz’s pants, however, were white.
Video of the evidence again shows two distinctively looking men. Ortiz sits high on a stool and stands out as the only person in the party wearing white pants and flashy jewelry
Sports Illustrated legal analyst Michael McCann also expressed the same skepticism in a Tweet yesterday, saying that David Ortiz is “not a likely person to be confused with someone else.” He also added that “the shooter walked up directly behind Ortiz and not the friend at the same table.”
Given Ortiz’s checkered past, as illustrated in a piece by Teri Thompson and Christian Red that appeared on the New York Daily News, there are most certainly plenty of rocks that have been left unturned. It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this supposedly ongoing investigation.
In good news, “Big Papi’s” wife Tiffany Ortiz released a statement yesterday stating that the slugger’s status was upgraded to “good.” He still remains in an Intensive Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.