As sources have been reporting for the last few days, Orioles RHP Alfredo Simon is the lead suspect in a shooting that occurred last Friday night (New Year’s Eve), that left a man (Michel Castillo Almonte) dead and another injured (Starlin Castillo Hernandez).
With many details being skewed by different sources and nothing definite coming to light just yet, here is what we can say for sure about the incident: Simon was at the park in the Dominican Republic the night of the incident, partaking in an annual tradition where people fire guns into the air as a celebration.
That is about all that anybody can say for sure. Miguel Tejada, Simon’s teammate in 2010, is paying for the legal bills that Simon is and will accumulate throughout this process, saying that he is a friend and needs to be there for him (Simon himself made the league minimum $400,000 last season). Julio Lugo has been with Simon and his attorneys in the DR.
Simon is currently being held by Dominican authorities while the investigation continues. The fingers are being pointed in different ways, with Simon saying that the injured man can identify him as innocent, while some say the complete opposite.
Until further details are known, the entire case is being reported as complete speculation. For all that anybody knows as of now, Simon could have shot the men and fled the scene to avoid being spotted, or he could be totally innocent and this could be a huge error on the part of the police.
We just don’t know. More details to come.
