Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro has been arrested after a nightclub shooting that left six people injured, according to a report from Dominican newspaper El Caribe. Castro's arrest comes three weeks after his agent said he had been cleared of involvement in a previous Dominican nightclub shooting.


The incident occurred early Saturday morning at Ocean Club, a nightclub in the Dominican coastal town of Montecristi, where Castro was born. The fracas reportedly involved Castro's brother and bodyguards, as well as a group of men including the driver and assistant to Montecristi's mayor:

According to reports, Castro's bodyguards stripped [the assistant] of a 12-gauge shotgun, which was recovered by police in the bushes next to the nightclub.


Including Castro, seven people in total were detained by police.

Update: There is confusion as to whether Castro was arrested or merely detained for questioning. Police spokesman Jacob Mateo Moquete released the following four tweet statement in Spanish on Twitter that I hadn't seen (my translation):

Attention: Some sports media members have called me inquiring about Major League Baseball player Starlin Castro. At this moment he is in the prosecutor's office in Montecristi, where the Prosecutor questioned him in relation to several people injured yesterday in the nightclub Océano that involved several people close to him. At this time I have no more details.

Multiple Dominican newspapers reported that he was "arrested," as well as ESPN Deportes reporter Enrique Rojas who first reported "arrested" before changing that to "detained."

Meanwhile, Castro's agent has told Chicago Tribune that Castro wasn't involved, arrested, or detained, and says Castro was even told by the police that they know he is not involved:

"Starlin was not arrested or detained or anything," Kinzer said. "He went to the police station to make sure they knew he was not involved. They told him they had video so they knew he was not involved."


Update (4:09 p.m.)

The police spokesperson has tweeted out a number of details regarding the injuries suffered in the nightclub as well as the names of the seven people involved (which included Starlin Castro), and said those seven "todos se encuentran detenidos para ser puestos a disposición de la justicia" which I translate as "all were detained to be brought to justice." He also revealed that Starlin Castro's house had been raided by police:


[El Caribe]

Photo via Jeff Gross/Getty