The first photograph has emerged showing former Boston Red Sox slugger David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz lying in a Dominican hospital bed after he was shot on Sunday evening.
The photograph which was posted on Instagram shows Ortiz connected to a machine while he lies sedated in a bed with a white blanket placed on top of him.
Earlier on Monday, Ortiz was transported to an airport, where he was flown out of the Dominican Republic.
He is flying to Boston, where he will continue to receive medical treatment.
David Ortiz is pictured above following his surgery in a hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic after he was shot on Sunday evening
An ambulance is seen above transporting Ortiz to the airport where a plane sent by the Boston Red Sox was waiting to take the retired slugger back to Boston for continued medical treatment
Ortiz will be treated at Massachusetts General Hospital upon his return to Boston
Boston Red Sox executives said they sent a team plane to the Dominican Republic to retrieve Ortiz and fly him back to Massachusetts.
Sam Kennedy, Red Sox president and CEO, said on Monday that Ortiz will be admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in the West End section of Boston.
‘I love David Ortiz,’ Kennedy told reporters in Boston.
‘We all love David Ortiz. Telling my kids last night what happened was really difficult.
‘It’s hard to express what David Ortiz means to the Boston Red Sox.’
He said that the Red Sox would assist the Ortiz family with whatever they needed.
‘We all remember that in 2013 when we needed David Ortiz the most, he was there for us in late April,’ Kennedy said.
‘And so it’s appropriate and expected that this community would rally around David when he needs us the most.’
Ortiz is credited with helping the city of Boston recover from the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013.
‘He’s on the Mount Rushmore of Boston sports,’ said Eddie Romero, the team’s assistant general manager.
‘He is a superhero without a cape,’ Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters on Monday.
‘That’s the way we see him.’
‘I always said that he’s bigger than life, David,’ the manager said.
‘He’ll give you a hug, a big smile, he does it with everybody. He does it with my daughter and my kids.
‘So it’s been a tough one.
‘I just hope when he gets here everything is fine and we can see the big man again with us filling a room with joy.’
Cora was teammates with Ortiz during their years on the Red Sox.
Another former teammate, retired catcher Jason Varitek, also spoke out in support of Ortiz.
‘I didn’t sleep very well last night,’ Varitek told the Boston Herald.
‘I don’t think anybody did. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on.
‘Still don’t know that much but everybody has seen and heard.’
Television cameras showed Ortiz, 43, being transported from Clinica Abel Gonzalez in Santo Domingo to the airport via ambulance.
Before the team’s game against the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park on Monday, the players and fans in attendance observed a moment of silence in honor of Ortiz.
Before the team’s game against the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park on Monday, the players and fans in attendance observed a moment of silence in honor of Ortiz
‘We send our love to David Ortiz,’ the scoreboard sign at Fenway Park read in Boston on Monday
A Red Sox fan shows a sign that reads ‘Pray 4 Papi’ at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday
‘All of us were shocked by last night’s news about David Ortiz,’ the public address announcer at Fenway Park said.
‘Our community has felt a palpable concern ever since.
‘As befits his outsized personality, wishes for a speedy recovery have poured in from all over baseball, from the world of sports, and even from respected world leaders.
‘He is loved throughout our nation and beyond, yet, to us, he is our own adopted son.
‘Won’t you please join us as we offer a moment of reflection, thought, and prayer for a complete healing and a full recovery for our beloved Big Papi.’
On Twitter, former President Barack Obama posted a photo showing him, Ortiz, and the rest of the Red Sox during their visit to the White House celebrating their World Series championship.
Obama tweeted: ‘Six years ago, David Ortiz’s spirit and resolve helped us all begin to heal from the Boston Marathon bombing.
‘Today, I want to join many others in wishing him a speedy recovery of his own.
‘Get well soon, Papi.’
Police in the Dominican Republic believe Ortiz was shot by two cops hired by a Dominican Republic drug lord who believed the baseball player was having an affair with his wife, DailyMail.com has learned.
Ortiz is shown on Sunday hours before being shot with his friend Jhoel Lopez
Three law enforcement sources confirmed the motive on Monday as Ortiz, 43, recovered in the hospital.
The drug lord has not been named.
On Monday, Ortiz’s representative Leo Lopez denied that the shooting had anything to do with a woman but said it was the act of ‘hired’ killers.
‘There is no doubt that it was an act of hired killers.
‘If we had known that there was a dangerous situation, he would not have been there at that moment,’ Leo Lopez told Diario Libre.
Ortiz is expected to make a full recovery but suffered liver damage during the six-hour operation, his spokesman said.
He has been cleared for travel and will fly back to Boston on a plane provided by his old team on Monday once it is ready.
‘The level of stability that Big Papi is showing at this moment makes it possible for him to travel immediately,’ one of the doctors involved in his care told ESPN.
The former slugger for the Red Sox was shot in the back at near point-blank range while having drinks with friends including local TV host Jhoel Lopez.
Police have arrested Eddy Feliz Garcia so far but their investigation is ongoing. Garcia was chased down at the bar by a crowd of Ortiz’s supporters and was beaten relentlessly until police arrived.
He was driving the motorcycle but is not the man who pulled the trigger. The shooter, who has not yet been named, is also in custody.
Eddy Feliz Garcia is shown being attacked by a crowd of Ortiz’s friends and supporters after the shooting. He was driving the motorcycle and the shooter, who has not been named, was on the back of it
Garcia is shown in police custody after being removed from the scene. He suffered extensive injuries before officers arrived
David Ortiz is shown in the center of this image with friends including Jhoel Lopez (far left), hours before he was shot. He is in the hospital and is in a stable condition after having his gallbladder and parts of his intestines removed
In another image taken hours before they were shot, the pair are shown smiling for the camera
Ortiz is shown with his wife Tiffany. They have two children together and live in Miami. She was not there in the Dominican Republic when he was shot. They have been married for 17 years
In a video widely shared on social media afterwards, Garcia is filmed claiming not to know anything about the attack.
In Spanish, the crowd yells at him: ‘You don’t know anything? You don’t know anything?’
Ortiz, who retired from baseball in 2016, is from the Dominican Republic and splits his time between the city of Santo Domingo, where the attack happened, and Miami where he lives with his wife and children.
He is well known in Santo Domingo and is known to frequent the bars and restaurants where the attack happened.
Before he was shot, he and Lopez were seen with other men drinking and smoking cigars.
He was sitting at a table with Lopez when the gunman approached him on the back of a motorcycle and shot him in the back.
The crowd seized on Garcia as Ortiz was taken to the hospital.
Initial reports suggested that it was an attempted robbery but police have since dismissed that.
Ortiz’s 14-year-old son D’Angelo was shown arriving at the clinic in Santo Domingo on Monday
An unidentified woman is shown leaving Ortiz’s Miami home on Monday. His family has not commented since he was shot
Ortiz lives in Miami with his wife and their teenage children. He retired from baseball in 2016
Ortiz is seen sitting in the club (left) before being shot and falling to the ground (right)
Lopez was shot in the leg, possible by the same bullet which entered Ortiz’s body in his back and went straight through him, exiting out of his stomach
‘So far the case is under investigation. Social media networks are speculating many things.
David is out of danger, thank God. Big Papi will be around for a long time
Leo Ortiz, the star’s father
‘We can not give you more details,’ Lieutenant Pimentel of the National Police in Santo Domingo told DailyMail.com on Monday.
Ortiz was rushed into surgery at the Abel Gonzolez Clinic. Before he was operated on, he told doctors: ‘Please don’t let me die, I’m a good man.’
His father said on Monday that he was doing well after the operation.
‘Doctors say that David is out of danger, thank God. What they have told me post-op is that the doctors believe he will recover quickly.
‘Big Papi will be around for a long time,’ Leo Ortiz told ESPN.
Lopez told Diario Libre via a WhatsApp message: ‘I am well. I am recuperating.’
The Red Sox have offered to send a private plane to return Ortiz to medical facilities in the U.S. if needed.
Julio Lugo, one of Ortiz’s former teammates, arrived at the clinic where he is being treated to see him on Monday
Eliezer Salvador, one of Ortiz’s friends, shows his blood-stained clothes to reporters outside the clinic where he is being treated
He also showed some of the baseball’s player jewelry that he had on when he was shot
This was the scene of the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo on Monday, the day after the shooting
Among those to pay tribute to Ortiz on Monday was former president Barack Obama
Ortiz previously told of his fears of being hurt in his home country.
Before a 2015 ballgame at Fenway Park, he told a Dominican journalist that he violence in his native country was out of control and that he didn’t feel comfortable carrying a firearm to protect himself in public.
‘This is getting out of hand. I think they need to deal strongly because I like going to my country and I know the people love you and take care of you.
‘But you know that when those dudes are out to get theirs, they are not thinking right and they could care less who is who.
‘And I don’t want to carry an AK-47 inside my car over there. I don’t want to walk around everywhere with a bunch of guns. I am not a gun carrier.
‘I am not a guy looking for trouble. But that’s what the (present) moment is demanding you to do,’ he said.
The shooting sparked an outpouring of support from both former teammates and former opponents.
‘I’m at peace knowing you out of danger; you a strong man Compai, can’t wait to hear your voice.
‘My thoughts and prayers are with you, see you soon,’ tweeted Pedro Martinez, a former Red Sox pitcher from the Dominican Republic who was an inspiration for Ortiz on his path to MLB.
‘Anxiously waiting for more news. In the meantime, only prayers for @davidortiz, Tiffany and their family,’ tweeted Alex Rodriguez, former slugger for the arch-rival New York Yankees.
Leo Ortiz, father of former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, talks to the press outside the clinic where his son is being treated after being shot
Liza Blanco (center), wife of the television host Jhoel Lopez, who was wounded in the shooting, waits at the Abel Gonzalez clinic in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Liza Blanco (center), wife of the television host Jhoel Lopez, is seen speaking to reporters
Family and friends of Ortiz wait in the clinic where he and Dominican television presenter Joel Lopez are being treated after being shot while in a bar in the city of Santo Domingo
The shooting triggered an outpouring of sympathy from other sports stars
Ortiz is married to Tiffany Ortiz and he has three children.
‘Thoughts and prayers going out to @davidortiz,’ wrote current Angels star Mike Trout.
Ortiz is beloved in the Dominican Republic, where he is well-known for his charity work with children.
David Ortiz #34 of the Boston Red Sox tips his cap after the Cleveland Indians defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in game three of the American League Divison Series in 2016
In 2007, Ortiz founded the David Ortiz Children’s Fund to help children with cardiac disorders in both the Dominican Republic and New England.
Ortiz ended his 20-year big league career in 2016, when he earned the last of his 10 All-Star appearances.
The former designated hitter and first baseman won seven Silver Slugger awards in his career, and he hit 541 home runs with 1,768 RBIs in 2,408 games in the majors.
He ranks 17th in major league history ion career home runs.
Ortiz began his major league career by playing six seasons for the Minnesota Twins (1997-2002), but his career blossomed after he joined the Red Sox.
His postseason heroics helped Boston capture its first World Series title in 86 years in 2004, when he was the Most Valuable Player of the American League Championship Series as the Red Sox overcame a 3-0 series deficit to the New York Yankees in seven games.
He also helped the Red Sox win championships in 2007 and 2013, capturing World Series MVP honors in the latter season.