By Dean Graber
José Jordy Veras Rodríguez, an attorney who appears regularly on the "Mañana Boreal" morning TV program on the privately owned Channel 25, was shot when he arrived at the station’s parking lot this week in Santiago de los Caballeros, the country’s second largest city. He was recovering in a local hospital, with heavily armed guards stationed outside the room, Listín Diario and El Nacional report. (See this report in English by Reporters Without Borders.)
Veras, son of well-known attorney and political veteran Ramon Antonio Veras, underwent surgery for two bullet wounds in the face and neck and was reported to be out of danger, Hoy Digital reports. National Police said the shooting was under investigation.
Police suspect Wednesday's attack was planned from the prison cell of a businessman whose ex-wife is a legal client of Veras. Officials searched the businessman’s cell Thursday but did not confirm if evidence linking him to the crime was found, El Nuevo Diario reports.
The Attorney General, one of dozens to visit the high-profile patient, told reporters the shooting has shaken the nation, El Nacional says. The Archbishop of Santo Domingo was one of many in the country who spoke out against the country’s rising violence,
El Nuevo Diario adds, in a second article.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
