SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- News about the reggaeton singer arrives in dribs and drabs Cuban José Manuel Carvajal, known artistically as El Taiger, who is in critical condition after being shot in the head. His friends, stationed outside Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, claim to be “desperate” due to the lack of information and their friend’s serious situation.
A close friend of the artist told Martí News that his desperation increases because “we have a friend hospitalized and the news for those of us who have known him all our lives is not what we would like.” “Many of us would have liked him to have walked out the door, even if he is convalescent, but he had walked out.”
He also expressed his frustration at the lack of information: “Nothing has changed, there is no new news about what the surgeon said when he spoke and said that he had been shot in the middle of the forehead.”
For her part, Yaniris Paredes, also a friend of José Manuel Carvajal Zaldívar, reported that a cousin of the delivery man, who lives in Peru, would make arrangements to move to Miami but they do not yet know if he will be able to do so. He also stated that he does not know if El Taiger’s grandmother and daughters are aware of the situation.
This Friday the chief of the Miami police, Manuel Morales, addressed the press confirming that the singer was found on the morning of October 3 inside a car with a gunshot wound and transferred to the hospital’s trauma center where he underwent surgery.
“Right now what we are asking the public is if you have any information that can help us in this investigation, please call 305 579 6111, we need to find the root of this incident,” Morales requested before the press.
He also stated that they would not give details of the incident since it is an ongoing investigation: “We do not have a description of any person we are looking for, our detectives are working with clues they may have until we get to the root of this incident.”
Previously, Marcel Reinosa, his manager, confirmed that the artist “is fighting for his life” and that he is currently under artificial respiration at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. “The official condition is that he is critical,” Reinosa said in an interview with Enrique Santos.
The shot that El Taiger received entered through the front of his head and exited through the right side. Despite the severity of the injury, Reinosa explained that the brain damage has been limited: “They shot him in the front of the head and it came out the side on the right side, it did not affect the left side, only the right. The part of the brain that recognizes people and memory is intact until now, it is still a miracle that it has survived, that it is alive.” However, his condition remains very delicate, and doctors have warned that the prognosis is uncertain.
After El Taiger’s condition was known, speculation arose on social networks about a possible suicide attempt. Both Reinosa and Nelson Martínez, the reggaeton singer’s former manager, have completely denied these rumors. “That is false, completely false,” Martínez stated, adding that El Taiger “loved life, he is not going to kill himself.” For his part, Reinosa reinforced this version by saying: “I can’t say that he took his life because he was in the trunk of the car, so how would he take his life?”
