Cheney shoots millionaire lawyer in hunt blunder

US vice president Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded an elderly companion during a weekend quail-hunting trip in Texas, spraying him in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire lawyer from Austin, was “alert and doing fine” in a Corpus Christi hospital last night, a day after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property’s owner.

He was said to be in a stable condition by Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

Armstrong said Whittington, 78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets from the 28-gauge shotgun hitting his cheek, neck and chest during the incident.

She said emergency staff travelling 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 yesterday.

The accident was not reported publicly by the vice president’s office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after it was reported locally by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on its website.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter left 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 lawyer in Austin since 1950 and has long been active in Texas Republican politics. He has been appointed to several state boards, including when then-Governor George Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

Whittington owns property in Travis County, which includes the state capital Austin, worth at least €9m, the Austin American-Statesman reported last year.

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch, 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. 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 was a long-time friend who came to the ranch to hunt about once a year and was “a very safe sportsman”. She said Whittington was also a regular, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

“This is something that happens from time to time. You know, I’ve been peppered pretty well myself,” said Armstrong.

Cheney was hunting legally with a licence he purchased in November, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Steve Lightfoot said. The vice president flew back to Washington last night, according to his office.