11th arrest made as authorities close in on David Ortiz shooting culprits
Police in the Dominican Republic have made an eleventh arrest in relation to an alleged murder-for-hire plot stemming from the recent non-fatal shooting of MLB legend David Ortiz.
Local police made the arrest on Tuesday with further details as to their alleged role in the June 9 shooting to be announced at a Wednesday press conference.
Per court records obtained by CNN the person linked with paying for the botched hit is Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota, a plot described by police as a "complex" assassination attempt.
READ MORE: Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz shot in Dominican Republic
Rodriguez Mota and another suspect, Gabriel Alexander Perez Vizcaíno, met to discuss a plan a week before Ortiz was shot according to the indictment. Perez Vizcaíno was allegedly the link between Rodriguez Mota and another suspect who is accused of ordering the hit from inside a Dominican prison – Jose Eduardo Ciprián.
Court documents state that Ciprián and another inmate, Carlos Alvarez, distributed a sum of $7,800 to the would-be assassins. It is alleged that Ciprián distributed a photograph of Ortiz along with instructions that he was the target to "liquidate." It is not clear why Ortiz was a target.
The shooting occurred on the patio of a crowed bar in Santo Domingo. Ortiz was shot once in the lower back, the bullet striking his intestines and internal organs before exiting and hitting TV host and friend of Ortiz, Jhoel Lopez, in the leg. His condition is understood to be stable.
The gunman escaped the scene on foot while his would-be getaway driver was set upon by the crowd when his motorbike stalled.
The shooting has been linked to big names within the Dominican underworld, though it remains unclear if any of those were the eleventh person arrested.
