Dominican Republic Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez insisted Wednesday the intended target of the June 9 David Ortiz shooting was not the Boston Red Sox legend but his friend, Sixto David Fernandez.
But Fernandez apparently thinks otherwise.
Speaking on the Dominican radio station Zol 106.5 FM on June 14 -- five days before Rodriguez's press conference -- Fernandez denied what then was speculation that he was the intended target of the attack at a Santo Domingo bar.
"I don't have a single enemy," Fernandez said, as transcribed Thursday in The Boston Globe. "I don't know where these rumors came from."
Fernandez added he was "blindsided" by the thought of someone putting a hit on him, per the Globe.
"I'm just a businessman," he said. "I have a garage shop."
Fernandez, who was sitting near Ortiz when a gunman believed to be Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz shot the ex-Sox star, also questioned the idea that someone could mistake the two.
"Logic exists. David and I are two very different people physically," he said.
Many had the same reaction when Rodriguez announced Fernandez as the intended target, identifying his cousin, a "Gulf Cartel" member named Victor Hugo Gómez, as the mastermind of the murder plot.
Fernandez's testimony adds further confusion to a case that has resulted in at least 11 arrests but also has been marked by conflicting reports about why Ortiz was shot and who was behind it.
What we do know is that the 43-year-old had his condition upgraded from "guarded" to "good" earlier this week as he recovers from multiple surgeries at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.
