In his first interview since he was shot in a Dominican Republic nightclub June 9, former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz told Univision television that he doesn’t know what led to the attack.
Ortiz also criticized those who suggested he was somehow to blame or involved in the incident, in which gunmen entered the nightclub and shot Ortiz in the back.
“I almost died, man,” Ortiz told Univision. “I was in a coma. People were criticizing me as if I deserved to be killed.”
David Ortiz’s First Interview Since Shooting, Says He Almost Died https://t.co/lw2vqb6XXW
— TMZ (@TMZ) September 14, 2019
Reliving the attack
Ortiz speaks with tears in his eyes at several points in the interview in Spanish, which Univision posted online June 9.
Perhaps most poignantly, he speaks of what he felt the night of June 9.
“When the bullet hit me, the first thing I felt was like a sting,” he said. The first five seconds I thought I was having a nightmare. A man named Eliezer, who I am very thankful for, he helped me and took me to the hospital,” Ortiz told Univision.
He later commented that he wasn’t sure he’d live.
“I was feeling something that I had never felt before, and that was just the feeling of trying to survive,” he said.
Ortiz had surgeries in the Dominican Republic and later in Boston as doctors worked to save his life.
David Ortiz opens up about near-fatal shooting: “I started losing hope” https://t.co/DuuPNmB7BY
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 15, 2019
Moving forward
The Red Sox welcomed Ortiz back to Fenway Park on Monday before a game with the Yankees. He threw out the first pitch and received a standing ovation.
And while Ortiz appears to be on the road to recovery and back into the public eye, mystery continues to shroud his shooting.
“I don’t have enemies. I don’t know why anyone would want to do this to me,” he said in the interview.
Boston loves you, @davidortiz. pic.twitter.com/pQt85arS6W
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 9, 2019
