Reply #166: Scoop for Corpus Christi Paper: Cheney Shoots Local Hunter

[Judi Lynn]

Scoop for Corpus Christi Paper: Cheney Shoots Local Hunter
Vice President Cheney

Published: February 12, 2006 4:30 PM ET

WASHINGTON Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.
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The news was reported nationally Sunday afternoon, with no explanation of why there was a delay. The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

The Corpus Christi paper said the accident happened at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
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Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shot at a covey of quail late afternoon on Saturday.

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 found 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 told the Associated Press in an interview.

"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."
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"It broke the skin," she said. "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."

She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington, holding his face and cleaning up the blood.

"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."
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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001995655