ONUMBA.COM – For Nigerians residing in the U.S., the recent shooting incident that almost killed former Boston Red Sox superstar slugger David Ortiz is all too familiar.
As the chilling details of the shooting begin to emerge, for Nigerians, they eerily echo a lot of the same jitters they harbor when deciding to visit home.
All too often, traveling to their dystopian and safety challenged homeland is not a decision taken while eating scoops of strawberry cheese cake. No, it is a serious decision, often requiring mulling the real risk involved before traveling, a lot of times debating with loved ones and significant others whether or not to go. The linchpin of the core concern is always the fear of being attacked by callous bandits who always perceive them as being affluent American sojourners loaded to the hilt with dosh.
Ortiz resides in Boston, but frequently visits his crime riven Dominican Republic homeland, reportedly as many as six times a year. As an enormously revered icon there, who frowned at being reduced to a Faberge egg because of his status, friends say he worried very little about being attacked, often Boulevardiering about neither with visible security nor human carapace, though wary not to mix with shady characters or engage in unnecessary fanfaronade.
On this eventful visit, he was basically hanging out on a lazy Sunday nightfall at the Dial Bar and Lounge Night Club in Santo Domingo, shooting the breeze with a bunch of buddies and fans alike, and having fun when all of a sudden, violence struck to change all of that. And just as it often plays out in Nigeria, the shooting was unleashed by a pair of thugs or bandits in a motorcycle, popularly known as ‘Okada’ in Nigeria.
Oh —- there’s one more classic parallel: one of the suspects was nabbed as he tried to flee the scene and served a nice dose of jungle justice, which describes a rough and ready kind of justice where bystanders would step in and take matters into their own hands to act as police, judge, jury and executioner. Deservedly, they beat the crap out of the suspect before the Santo Domingo police arrived to essentially rescue his sorry ass.
Ortiz, 43, was shot in the torso in an open nightclub at around 8:30pm by gunmen who ambushed him in motorcycle, firing at him from behind at “nearly point blank range.” No motive has yet been established for the attack, but lead prosecutor in the investigation offered fresh startling details about the shooting, ruling out armed robbery and describing the assault on Ortiz as orchestrated by a pentad of hired men, including alleged shooter Ramon Martinez Perez and alleged driver 25-year old Eddy Vladmir Feliz Garcia, both of whom were allegedly paid about $8,000 to carry out the attack aimed at killing Ortiz.
Garcia has already confessed his role in the attack but denied pulling the trigger.
Ortiz, lovingly known as “Big Papi’ by fans, was rushed to a hospital in Santo Domingo where he underwent an emergency surgery. He was reported to be in stable condition following the surgery but was later transported to the United States where he continued to receive treatment in the Intensive Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Ortiz’s father Leo Ortiz told the media that his son was recovering well, expressing gratitude to his medical team.
“On behalf of the Ortiz family, David Ortiz’s work team, I want to thank the press but especially this medical team,” he said.
Dr. Jose Abel Gonzalez at the Massachusetts General Hospital said that Ortiz will make a full recovery and will return to normal life.
As for how quickly that will happen, he said, “We hope it will be the shortest possible.” He noted that Ortiz suffered legions that affected the liver as well as the large and small intestine from the gunshot.
Ortiz, beloved in Boston, played 20 seasons in the Major League, helping the Red Sox coral three world series championships in 2004, 2007 and 2013.
Back to Nigeria, perhaps it’s time to bring back the no-nonsense vigilante group Bakassi that was very successful in crime prevention efforts in the Southeastern part of the country.
