David Ortiz makes first comments since leaving hospital after shooting

Retired Boston Red Sox great David Ortiz said Monday in his first words since leaving the hospital nearly two months after being shot in the Dominican Republic that he’s enjoying “priceless” time with his loved ones.

The sure-fire Hall of Fame slugger posted an Instagram picture of a steak on BBQ grill with English and Spanish words: “Being at home and look at my family celebrating that lm here safe is priceless…Thank for all the prayers.”

He lamented that he’s, for now, limited in how much he can eat.

“Too bad l can’t crush food yet,” Ortiz wrote along with pictures of a New York strip steak, pasta, and fish.

The 43-year-old, three-time World Series winner, known affectionately as “Big Papi,” is safe at home after he was nearly killed in the Dominican Republic on June 9.

Ortiz was shot at the Dial Bar and Lounge where he had gone to with friends.

Dominican authorities don’t believe Ortiz was the intended target, saying the the gunman was actually aiming for Sixto David Fernández, who happened to be sharing a table with the baseball legend.

Authorities shared that New Jersey native Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz, 25, one of 14 suspects arrested in connection to the attack, was the alleged gunman hired to take out Fernández.

Earlier this month the Dominican Republic’s attorney general, Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez, said they believe Victor Hugo Gómez Vasquez, an alleged member of Mexico’s Del Golfo drug cartel, orchestrated the alleged hit on Fernández.

The two are cousins, but Vasquez allegedly orchestrated the murder-for-hire plot because Fernández turned him in to Dominican drug investigators in 2011.

Vasquez was arrested last month in Santo Domingo.

source: nbcnews.com