Sox's Uribe Linked to Dominican Republic Shooting

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Oct 18, 2006 5:15PM

Last year at this time, Juan Uribe was busy gunning out Red Sox, Angels and Astros at first base as the White Sox plowed through the playoffs on their way to the World Series title. With no playoffs this year, Uribe's home in the Dominican Republic and apparently up to no good as he's accused of having a role in a shooting that took place on Friday.

Uribe was questioned by Dominican police yesterday after he, his brother Epidio, and friend Jose Manuel Encaracion were allegedly involved in the shooting of two men on Sunday in Juan Baron, DR. The two men -- a Dominican farmer and a captain in the Italian Navy -- supposedly got too close to his Jeep, words were exchanged, and somebody fired shots that injured the men.

Uribe and his lawyer turned in his gun to police and met with investigators for two hours before leaving the court house without yet being charged. He claims he was not at the scene of the shooting, but Antonio Gonzalez Perez -- one of the injured men -- alleges it was Juan who shot him, and he's already filed a civil suit against Uribe.

Of course, the quickness of the civil suit sure supports Uribe's claim that this is an extortion attempt. I mean, if you're shot and discover a connection to a millionaire major league baseball player, aren't you going to claim he's the one who pulled the trigger?

Should be interesting to see how this unfolds ... which seems to be the stance Sox management is taking at the moment. The team has made no comment yet regarding the incident.