There have been several acts of violence and mysterious deaths in the Dominican Republican. Now there has been a report that former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz was shot at a club in Santo Domingo.
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CNN.com reports Ortiz, also known as Big Papi, was shot in the back by a motorcyclist who approached Ortiz at a dance club. A spokesperson for the Dominican National Police said the bullet went through his stomach. The 43-year-old is in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
A second person, , television host Jhoel Lopez, was also shot at the club. Lopez’s wife told reporters, “They were both on their backs. It was very fast. He doesn’t remember much because he was also in shock from the bullet wound. But thank God he is stable.”
Multiple people have been detained over the shooting and authorities reportedly have a suspect.
Just this year, there have been five deaths in the Dominican Republican, there of which were at the Grand Bahia Principe resort in La Romana. During the last week of May, a Black couple was found dead in their hotel room. Maryland couple Cynthia Ann Day, 49, and her fiance Nathaniel Edward Holmes, 63, were staying at the same Grand Baha Principe hotel. Their bodies were discovered on May 30, the same day they were to fly back to the United States. The Dominican Republic National Police determined that the couple died from respiratory failure and pulmonary edema caused by excess fluid in their lungs. However, it still remains unclear what may have caused their condition.
Just five days before Day and Holmes’ bodies were found, a Pennsylvania woman collapsed and died at the Baha Principe hotel. Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, checked in with her husband, Dan Werner, on May 25, the same day as the Maryland couple. Reports say after she enjoyed a drink at a minibar, she suddenly collapsed in her hotel room.
NBC News recently reported that in June 2018, Yvette Monique Sport, 51, died under similar circumstances last year at another hotel owned by the same company. She drank from the minibar, took a shower, went to bed and was found dead the next morning.
There have been several reports of people getting extremely ill at the hotel and leaving after only a few days.
BuzzFeed News says a representative who answered the resort’s corporate line said people are “making a fuss about this.” In an insensitive statement Friday, the resort slammed the “dissemination of false information issued publicly, which threatens the image and reputation of the company…The safety and comfort of our guests and staff stand at the core of our company values and we work daily to ensure it.”
There have also been deaths outside of the hotel. Two months earlier, a Black couple from New York went missing in the Dominican Republic. Orlando Moore, 43, and his girlfriend, Portia Ravenelle, 51, had checked out of their hotel in Samana but never made it to their flight back to the United States back in March. The pair died after their car plunged off a cliff as they made their way to the airport.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory for the Dominican Republic in April for crime before updating it in May to rank the nation a level 2 travel advisory for crime, which warns travelers to exercise increased caution.
According to the World Health Organization, the Dominican Republic ranked fifth in road deaths per capita in 2016.
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