Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz shot in Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo — Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was shot over the weekend in the Dominican Republic, the National Police said Monday.

The investigation into the shooting on Sunday of Ortiz, known as “Big Papi” during his playing days, is being expanded, the law enforcement agency said.

The 43-year-old Ortiz was shot during an incident in the eastern section of Santo Domingo.

Ortiz, who underwent surgery at Santo Domingo’s Clinica Abel Gonzalez, is listed in stable condition, his publicist, Leo Lopez, said.

Lopez told the press that the bullet affected several of the former Major League Baseball (MLB) player’s organs.

Surgeons had to remove part of Ortiz’s intestines and his spleen, Lopez said.

Ortiz is under sedation and the former ballplayer will be monitored over the next few hours before a decision is made on whether to move him to a hospital in Boston, Lopez said.

National Police spokesman Frank Felix Duran, for his part, told reporters that a suspect, identified as Eddy Vladimir Feliz Garcia, was arrested in connection with the shooting and is being questioned.

Investigators are looking for a second man in connection with the incident and trying to determine the motive for the shooting, Duran said.

Ortiz was shot while at a Santo Domingo bar with journalist Jhoel Lopez, who was also shot and is listed in stable condition, relatives said.

The National Police said the assailants arrived at the establishment on a motorcycle that has been seized by investigators.

One of the men shot Ortiz and Lopez, the National Police said, adding that the subjects tried to flee on the motorcycle but fell down.

One of the suspects got away on foot, but Feliz Garcia was grabbed by other bar patrons, who beat him before handing him over to police.

“The prosecutor’s office and the National Police are working jointly to clear up the case as quickly as possible and establish who is responsible” for the shooting, the law enforcement agency said in a statement.

National Police director Maj. Gen. Ney Aldrin Bautista, who went to the Clinica Abel Gonzalez on Sunday night, told reporters that “we cannot presume absolutely anything, anything we say at this time is conjecture.”

Ortiz finished his 20-year MLB career with a .286 batting average, 541 home runs, 2,472 hits, 1,768 runs batted in, 1,419 runs scored, 632 doubles and a .620 slugging percentage.

The slugger was a 10-time All Star, won seven Silver Slugger Awards, received two American League Hank Aaron Awards and won the Roberto Clemente Award.

Ortiz set the Red Sox’s single-season home run record with 54 during the 2006 season.

Last October, the Dominican Chamber of Deputies honored Ortiz, who was the World Series Most Valuable Player in 2013, “for his outstanding role as a competitor, as well as his achievements inside and outside the stadium.”

A month later, President Danilo Medina made Ortiz a goodwill ambassador.