Crime

Rescued MLB Player Thankful to Be Alive

Kidnapped Baseball Player Happy to Be Alive

Last Month, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was named to the Baseball America 2011 All-Rookie Team. Last Thursday, Ramos was abducted and unsure if he would come home alive.

Ramos was abducted at gunpoint in front of his mother’s house in Venezuela this past Wednesday, and taken to a remote mountainous region of Venezuela.

“I didn’t know if I was coming home alive,” Ramos told ESPN in an exclusive interview. After being held for two days, Ramos was rescued by government commandos who had flown by helicopter to the remote location and then surround the house on foot. ABC News reports that when the shooting ended, at least four kidnappers and their accomplices were arrested.

AP reports that Ramos did not know the captors, who are believed to be of Columbian descent. As media swarmed Ramos’ mother after he was returned home safe she exclaimed “Thanks to God!”

Kidnapped Baseball Player Happy to Be Alive

Nationals fans held a candlelight vigil Friday night for Ramos in Washington D.C.

Ramos embraced his rescuers and spoke of the two-day kidnapping ordeal Saturday:

Ramos said his kidnappers had carefully planned the abduction and told him they were going to demand a large ransom.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get out of it alive,” Ramos told reporters at a police station in his hometown of Valencia, flanked by police investigators reports the Associated Press. “It was very hard for me. It was very hard for my family.”

Authorities are still searching for at least four men who escaped during the rescue according to National Guard commanders and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami. AP reports that the kidnapping was the first known abduction of any Major League Baseball player that league officials could recall.

El Aissami said Venezuela President Hugo Chavez followed the rescue operation minute by minute.

Ramos was in his homeland at the time of the kidnapping to play in an offseason league.

“I was always praying to God, and thanks to God he gave me the miracle of sending me these wonderful people,” Ramos said. AP reports that the ballplayer saluted his rescuers, saying: “I’m alive thanks to them.”

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