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
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.
Television cameras showed Ortiz, 43, being transported from Clinica Abel Gonzalez in Santo Domingo to the airport via ambulance.
Ortiz is shown on Sunday hours before being shot with his friend Jhoel Lopez
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.
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
