Investigative officials linked David Ortiz to the suspect who was shooting in the attempted murder case in 2018 in Reading.

Reading, PA –

Berks County Sheriff Eric Weaknecht said Thursday that he was virtually certain that a man wanted for shooting at the great baseball player David Ortiz was the same man he had declared to be a fugitive more on charges of attempted homicide during a shooting in Reading last year.

"We can not say 100%, but we are very confident that it is (the same person)," said Weaknecht.

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Major General of the Dominican National Police, Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte, waved the handgun that would have been used during the attack from a nightclub against the former Boston Red Sox slugger in the hometown of Ortiz in Santo Domingo. Officials have named six suspects in detention, including the 25-year-old gunman accused Rolfi Ferreyra Cruz.

In the Dominican Republic, officials have also named Luis Alfredo Rivas-Clase, nicknamed "the surgeon", suspected of the shooting. Rivas-Clase was not in detention.

The Reading police laid several charges in April against Luis A. Rivas-Clase, 31, of Reading, including for conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, on April 22, 2018, in the 900 block of North Front Street.

After Rivas-Clase was declared fugitive on local charges, Weaknecht added him to Berks County's Most Wanted, accessible on readigneagle.com as well as on the sheriff's office website.

A photo of Rivas-Clase published by Weaknecht is almost identical to that published Wednesday by officials of the Dominican Republic, including tattoos identical to the neck, eyebrows similar, a nose and a scar on the forehead.

According to Reading police, Rivas-Clase threatened to kill the 22-year-old local victim a few days before being shot in the back.

Weaknecht said the US Marshal's office was taking part in the hunt at Rivas-Clase, but little advice was received until this week.

"Hopefully this exhibition will give us a lot more advice," he said. "It's been a few weeks and we have not had a lot of advice on him, but we started getting them this morning."

District Attorney John T. Adams said Wednesday night that he could not unequivocally confirm that the two men were identical, but the photos led him to believe that he was acting well. of the same individual.

"I can confirm everything that has been said," he said.

Adams said his office in recent years has traced many Dominican Republic nationals involved in crimes committed in and around Reading in their home country.

(Journalist Steven Henshaw contributed to this story).