[Mb-civic] CBC News - DICK CHENEY MISSES BIRD, HITS FELLOW HUNTER

[CBC News Online]

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DICK CHENEY MISSES BIRD, HITS FELLOW HUNTER
WebPosted Sun Feb 12 16:01:38 2006

---U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney has shot and wounded a 78-year-old
fellow hunter during a Texas quail shoot.

Harry Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, the state capital, was described
as "alert and doing fine" in hospital after being sprayed with shotgun
pellets late Saturday afternoon at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas.

Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird that
had just been flushed and accidentally hit Whittington, the Corpus
Christi Caller-Times reported.

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, Armstrong told the Associated Press.

She said she watched from a car as Cheney, Whittington and another hunter
got out to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in tall grass, while
Cheney and the third man spotted another 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 AP.

"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."

Cheney was very apologetic, she said.

FROM JAN. 9, 2006: U.S. vice-president hospitalized briefly

Cheney was himself in hospital last month after complaining of shortness
of breath. He has a pacemaker and has had four heart attacks, quadruple
bypass surgery and two angioplasties.

The shooting was first reported by the Caller-Times.

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