Cheney shoots someone

[Swamphunter]

Fox news is reporting right now that Dick Cheney may have accidentally shot a freind of his while hunting in Texas. Prayers with both the familys...

[buckee]

WOWZERS ..How terrible. Is his friend shot dead??

[Swamphunter]

I don't think so...it is breaking news and I believe they are saying shotgun pellets...hopefully to a non life threatening or disfiguring area. God forbid it is his face or chest....

[buckee]

That was his annual pheasant hunting trip , right

[Swamphunter]

It says the guy he shot was a 78 year old lawyer...

[Snipe]

Heres the story so far...

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.

Harry Whittington, 78, was “alert and doing fine” after Cheney sprayed Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington. She said Whittington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital by ambulance.
Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president was with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, and his wife at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

[fisherguy]

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago



WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.


Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

He was described as in stable condition by Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident which occurred late afternoon on Saturday

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington until the ambulance arrived.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president was with Whittington and his wife at the hospital on Sunday.

The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice president's office did not disclose the accident until nearly 24 hours after it happened.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

Whittington has been a private practice attorney in Austin since 1950 and has long been active in Texas Republican politics. He's been appointed to several state boards, including when then-Gov. George W. Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

Whittington owns property in Travis County worth at least $11 million, the Austin American-Statesman reported last year, not counting a downtown block at the center of a long-running dispute with the city over a condemnation issue.

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding and Cheney was very apologetic.

"It broke the skin," she said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

Cheney is an avid hunter who makes annual hunting trips to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. He also travels frequently to Arkansas to hunt ducks.

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

"This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

___

Associated Press writer Paul Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.

[hoyt_hunter]

that is crazy, i watched it on the news. i can't belive the guy was in that good of shape

[arrow32]

This is crazy. Heck if i would of saw this i wouldnt of posted this in the lounge.

[slugshooter]

How much you want to bet that no charges are filed. It it were you or me, we'd be arrested and our licenses revoked.

[LifeNRA]

[ QUOTE ]
How much you want to bet that no charges are filed. It it were you or me, we'd be arrested and our licenses revoked.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well let me ask you this! If it was your friend you were hunting with slug, would you file charges? Or are you only saying this because he is a republican?

[slugshooter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How much you want to bet that no charges are filed. It it were you or me, we'd be arrested and our licenses revoked.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well let me ask you this! If it was your friend you were hunting with slug, would you file charges? Or are you only saying this because he is a republican?

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess it would all depend on what state you were in. If it were me and it were truly an accident I wouldn't want charges to be filed but in some states, depending on the crime, you don't get to decide whether to file charges or not, the police make that determination, as they should. I wouldn't care if it were John Kerry or George Bush, or any other politician. Negligence is negligence. He should have known where his friend was, and where his gun was going.

[Yellowhammer]

I guess the anti-gun folks will have a field day with this. More gun laws to come, stay tune.

[Strut10]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess the anti-gun folks will have a field day with this. More gun laws to come, stay tune.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. Batton down the hatches. Here it comes.

I knew we should never have re-elected these guys. John Kerry's hunted all these years and he's never shot anyone.

What a dipstick move, Dick!! Glad the feller wasn't more seriously hurt.

[LifeNRA]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How much you want to bet that no charges are filed. It it were you or me, we'd be arrested and our licenses revoked.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well let me ask you this! If it was your friend you were hunting with slug, would you file charges? Or are you only saying this because he is a republican?

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess it would all depend on what state you were in. If it were me and it were truly an accident I wouldn't want charges to be filed but in some states, depending on the crime, you don't get to decide whether to file charges or not, the police make that determination, as they should. I wouldn't care if it were John Kerry or George Bush, or any other politician. Negligence is negligence. He should have known where his friend was, and where his gun was going.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes your right! Lets just hope his injuries are not going to be too bad!