Spokesman: David Ortiz takes first steps since shooting after second surgery in Boston
David Ortiz has taken his first steps since being shot in the back in the Dominican Republic on Sunday and continues to recover in a Boston hospital, his spokesman Leo Lopez told CNN on Tuesday.
The former Boston Red Sox slugger underwent a second operation at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital overnight after being flown from the Dominican Republic on Monday.
His wife Tiffany Ortiz announced that the surgery was successful and that he’s in stable condition in a statement provided by the Boston Red Sox.
Ortiz ‘stable ... resting comfortably’
“David arrived at Massachusetts General Hospital last night and underwent a successful second surgery," Tiffany said in the statement. "He is stable, awake, and resting comfortably this morning in the ICU where he is expected to remain for the next several days.”
Ortiz initially underwent emergency surgery in his native Dominican Republic after the shooting at a Santo Domingo night club.
Lopez said early Monday that doctors had removed Ortiz’s gallbladder, part of his intestines and his colon. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Motive for shooting still not known
A suspect has been identified, but the motive in the shooting remains unclear.
Dominican police said that 25-year-old Eddy Feliz Garcia got off a motorcycle and shot Ortiz in the back while Ortiz was at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo Sunday evening. The bullet exited Ortiz’s stomach.
The shooting prompted Ortiz to reportedly plead with the emergency room doctor “Please don’t let me die, I’m a good man.”
Bystanders reportedly attacked the shooter and beat him badly, leaving him with a cranial contusion, thorax trauma and injuries to his left knee and right leg, according to the Dominican Republic’s National Health Service.
Ortiz was a three-time World Series champion and 10-time MLB All-Star as a member of the Red Sox before he retired in 2016.
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