The Associated Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Police say a suspected drug trafficker offered to pay $30,000 for the shooting that wounded baseball slugger David Ortiz, who was sitting near the intended victim.

National Police spokesman Frank Félix Duran Mejía told a news conference on Sunday that the alleged mastermind of the attack had so far paid only $10,000 to people hired to arrange the killing of Sixto David Fernández, his cousin.

Duran Mejía said Víctor Hugo Gómez Vasquez feared Fernández would tell police of his presence in the Dominican Republic and blamed the cousin for an earlier arrest. Gómez Vasquez has denied trying to kill either Fernández or Ortiz, who remains hospitalized in Boston.

Police say they’ve arrested 14 people in the case and are searching for others.