Wounded 'Big Papi' Returns to Boston

Beloved Red Sox slugger David Ortiz landed in Boston on Monday night, just 24 hours after he was shot at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic. The former player was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital after arriving on a plane chartered by the team, the Boston Globe reports. The 43-year-old was shot in the back and had to have parts of his intestines and gall bladder removed. "The fact that he survived so far is good," Dr. Peter A. Burke, chief of acute care and trauma surgery at Boston Medical Center, tells the Globe. "The downstream consequences will take time to play out. He's made the first hurdle—he didn’t die." Earlier Monday, Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said Ortiz's condition "is still serious but he is stable enough to be transported back here to Boston."

Authorities in the Dominican Republic are still trying to determine a motive for the Sunday night attack, though they believe it wasn't robbery. Alleged gunman Eddy Vladimir Feliz Garcia—who was captured and beaten by a crowd after a motorcycle crash during his getaway attempt—is one of several suspects in custody, CNN reports. The motorcycle driver escaped on foot. Former President Obama was among the many well-wishers on Monday. "Six years ago, David Ortiz's spirit and resolve helped us all begin to heal from the Boston Marathon bombing," Obama tweeted. "Today, I want to join many others in wishing him a speedy recovery of his own. Get well soon, Papi." (It's not clear whether Ortiz was the intended target of the shooting.)