Washington – The 78-year- old Texas lawyer who was shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a weekend hunting accident was released from intensive care in stable condition Monday, as new details emerged showing the White House allowed Cheney to decide when and how to disclose details of the shooting to the local sheriff and the public.
President Bush and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove were told of the shooting Saturday night but deferred to Cheney on providing information to the public, White House aides said. In what one official described as a break with the White House practice of disclosing such high-level mishaps immediately, Cheney waited more than 14 hours after the shooting to publicly disclose it.
Cheney’s spokesman said the vice president was more concerned about the health of the accidental-shooting victim, Republican lawyer Harry Whittington. But even some White House officials said Cheney mishandled the response and opened the administration to criticism that it was withholding important public information. In his press briefing, White House spokesman Scott McClellan – who was not alerted to Cheney’s involvement in the shooting until early Sunday morning – suggested he would have done it differently.
Cheney shot Whittington Saturday afternoon at the exclusive 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch near Corpus Christi during a hunting party with three other people. The host, Katharine Armstrong, said no one had been drinking before the shooting and all were wearing blaze-orange safety gear. But she said Whittington had failed to announce himself when trudging toward the group after picking up a quail he had just shot. Cheney did not see him as he swung his 28-gauge shotgun toward a covey of quail just taking flight, said Armstrong, who witnessed the accident, and hit Whittington with bird shot in the face, neck and chest.
The White House directed reporters to Armstrong’s comments and did not fault Cheney. Cheney, who had a private White House lunch Monday with Bush, did not comment on the shooting. Late Monday, he issued a statement that did not mention the shooting but acknowledged not having paid $7 for a permit that allowed him to shoot upland birds and said he was sending a check to the state. Cheney said he expected to be issued a warning from state authorities for his failure to obtain the permit.
Hunting safety experts said the onus would typically be on a hunter who had left his usual spot in a group to let the others know where he was.
But the experts also said hunters are taught to learn where everyone in their party is before firing. “If you are squeezing the trigger, you will not get that shot back and you need to make sure of the target and surrounding area and make sure it is safe to shoot,” said Mark Birkhauser of the International Hunter Education Association.
The details of the shooting remain murky because Armstrong is the only person present to provide details of the incident.
Kenedy County Chief Deputy Gilbert San Miguel issued a statement late Monday saying the incident has been investigated by local authorities and determined to be “no more than a hunting accident.” He told reporters the case remains open, however.
Local law-enforcement officials did not interview Cheney until Sunday morning, about 14 hours after the shooting, in an agreement worked out between the Secret Service and Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas. Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said at least one deputy was turned away shortly after the shooting because security personnel at the ranch were not aware of the agreement between the sheriff and the Secret Service.
In a telephone interview, Armstrong said that she, her mother and her sister decided Sunday morning after breakfast to report the shooting accident to the media. “It was my family’s own volition, and the vice president agreed. We felt, my family felt and we conferred as a family, that the information needed to go public. It was our idea,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong contacted the Corpus Christi Caller-Times about 9 a.m. CST Sunday. When asked why the information was not disseminated Saturday night, immediately after the accident, Armstrong said “the last thing that was on our mind was the media. We were thinking about Harry.”
Armstrong, her sister, Cheney, Whittington and Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, went out on the ranch to hunt quail. Armstrong said the hunting protocol they used was to have three hunters shooting at one time. While two sat in the hunt vehicle, the three others were hunting. They would then rotate.
