Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a man Saturday while on a quail hunting trip in Kenedy county Texas. The victim, Harry Whittington, 78, was struck in the face and neck from approximately thirty yards away, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunting Accident Report.
“We were hunting a covey of quail,” Katherine Armstrong, owner of the ranch said. “The Vice President and two others got out of the car to walk up the covey and the birds flushed. Mr. Whittington made a shot on two birds and went over to about 100 to 150 yards away to go find his birds.”
Armstrong explained that Whittington indicated to the other hunters to move ahead in pursuit of another covey of quail. Cheney and the other hunter continued about 100 yard ahead, she said. However, Whittington approached unannounced during the hunt, and inadvertently fell into the line of fire.
“He came up from behind and did not announce that he was there and trying to join the line,” Armstrong said. “They believed that Mr. Whittington was back there looking for the bird, when in fact he was about 30 yards away. Unfortunately, he was peppered pretty well.”
Cheney’s medical team reacted quickly, and the ambulance arrived rapidly; however, Whittington’s injuries did not seem terribly serious, Armstrong said.
Whittington was taken to a small hospital first and, upon evaluation, was moved to Corpus Christi Memorial for further observation and a small surgical procedure.
Tuesday, hospital administrator Peter Banko gave an update on Whittington’s condition. The representative said the Texas lawyer and Bush supporter was showing some irregularity of the heart.
“Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into his heart causing a minor heart attack,” Banko said. “At this time there is no plans to do surgery to remove that birdshot. It is fixed into his heart at this point in time. We will need to monitor him for another week just to make sure that he is stable.”
Director of emergency services Dr. David Blanchard gave a brief explanation of what this birdshot might do to the heart.
“The BB has basically lodged in a certain area causing inflammatory changes,” Blanchard said. “There is irritability to the heart muscle because it recognizes that there is foreign body there and as a result the chambers of the heart were beating irregularly.”
While this condition sounds ominous and painful, it is easily treated with medications and will not require surgery, Blanchard said.
Although the accident might be traumatic for Cheney and others involved, it will spur no criminal charges. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Kenedy County Sheriff’s department, the incident was purely accidental, and not uncommon as indicated by Armstrong.
“This does happen time to time,” Armstrong said. “I have BB’s in my legs to attest to that. Although no one wants these things to happen, they do happen. Thankfully in this case it’s not terribly serious.”