Retired baseball star David Ortiz hires private investigators after shooting: media

[August 26, 2019]  (Reuters) - Retired Boston Red Sox baseball player David Ortiz has hired a private detective agency to find out why someone shot him in the back as he sat in a bar in his native Dominican Republic in June, the Boston Globe reported late Sunday.

"He's damn interested in finding out what really happened," Ortiz' spokesman Joe Baerlein told the newspaper.

The shooting of Ortiz, 43, known as "Big Papi," made international headlines for the former award winning baseball player, and he is still recovering from his wound after six-weeks in a Boston hospital.

Baerlein told the Globe that Dominican law enforcement officials have not talked to Ortiz since an initial interview.

Ortiz's spokesman told the Globe that the retired ball player has no idea why someone wanted to hurt him, and he does not accept the accounts from Dominican officials.

News media has reported that six suspects involved with the shooting have been arrested in connection to the shooting, including one man who said he was promised 400,000 Dominican pesos, about $7,800, to carry out the attack.

Dominican authorities have concluded that Ortiz was not the target of the attack and the shooter meant to kill somebody else - a friend of Ortiz, identified as Sixto David Fernandez.

Red Sox former player David Ortiz (red hat) walks on the field prior to the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

Television host Jhoel Lopez was also wounded in the shooting.

Ortiz is revered in Boston for helping the Red Sox win three World Series championships, including the memorable 2004 title that broke an 86-year drought for the club.

He retired after the 2016 season while still one of the best hitters in the game, making the Major League Baseball All-Star team that season while leading the league in several statistical categories.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Michael Perry)

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