Posted on 02/22/2006 4:50:16 PM PST by The_Victor
Eyewitness statements about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of his quail hunting partner largely confirm previous accounts with some minor discrepancies, according to affidavits obtained today by the Houston Chronicle.
The affidavits, released by the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department, give the most detailed accounts to date of the events leading up to the Feb. 11 shooting of Republican activist and Austin attorney Harry Whittington.
"Mr. Cheney, not knowing that Harry had made his way into the shooting area, shot at the bird," wrote Michael "Bo" Hubert, the El Campo-based hunting guide. "And at that time is when Harry was shot."
Whittington, Cheney and Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland were all hunting together at the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas when Whittington apparently walked out of the hunting line to search for a downed quail he had shot that Saturday afternoon.
Cheney, unaware that Whittington had moved forward and to the vice president's right, accidentally shot the GOP supporter when the vice president turned his shotgun to track a quail that flushed in front of him.
The incident, which was not made public for 22 hours, prompted criticism over the handling of the information involving the vice president, who went on television four days after the shooting to explain what had happened. The first news of the accident came when ranch owner Katharine Armstrong contacted the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on Sunday.
In affidavits obtained today, a clearer picture emerged about what was seen by Armstrong and her sister Sarita Armstrong Hixon, both owners of the ranch, and those in the hunting party. Both women along with Willeford, Hubert, and two Armstrong Ranch employees, filed statements about that day.
According to Willeford, the hunting party came upon two coveys of quail.
She wrote that Whittington shot two quail in that first covey. He picked up one bird and began searching for the second.
"He stopped to pick up his birds and spent several minutes looking, as the second bird was difficult to find," Willeford wrote on Feb. 15, four days after the incident.
Willeford and Cheney walked ahead of Whittington. A bird then flushed in front of the vice president and "flew to our right," Willeford wrote.
Both the ambassador and the vice president took aim but Willeford did not shoot because she said the bird was out of her range.
"Neither the vice president nor I realized he (Whittington) had left his former position behind us and was now about 30 yards to the right (west) and slightly below us," she wrote.
"I did not hear him (Whittington) call out to warn the shooters of his approach," Hixon wrote.
Their statements match earlier accounts of the incident.
However, there seems to be varying recollections of whether Cheney's target quail appeared in front of or behind the hunters.
Willeford said there was "no alcohol consumed during the afternoon of the hunt in the field." However, she said she did consume a glass of wine at lunch, about 4-4 1/2 hours earlier.
A week ago, Cheney said he had a beer at that same lunch.
Last week, Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III ruled the shooting an accident.
Whittington, 78, was released from a Corpus Christi hospital on Friday. He was rushed to a hospital after received up to 200 tiny shotgun pellets in the right torso, neck and face. One pellet lodged at his heart, causing a mild heart attack on Feb. 14, three days after the shooting.
Let's bring this story back, anything other than this stupid port story.
Isn't Newsweek's cover devoted to this story again this week ?
Yeah, I'll bet they're wishing the port story broke a little earlier.
They will say that the people testifying are lying.
:0)
MINOR DISCREPANCIES!! HOLD THE NY TIMES FRONT PAGE!!!
No they only deal with major disrepancies.
Dick Cheney shot somebody? Gee, you'd think there would be some mention in the press about it.
< MINOR DISCREPANCIES!! HOLD THE NY TIMES FRONT PAGE!!! >
It might be held forever if a post above you is true.
Eerily, I posted that just before the NY Times building on fire post appeared...
He was shot around 6:50PM and was in a abulance to the hospital at 7:20PM.
Meaning it was made public within 20 minutes at the most.
Correction: The incident, which was not made public spoon fed to the Washington press corps for 22 hours....
There, that's better.
That's the funny thing. It happened a over a week ago. The Cheney story just soaked up David Gregory's oxygen.
Oxygen he can do without, but hairspray? Fergit it!
David seemed to be gasping on the Sunday morning news show he was on to give his apologia...
I thought they were gonna have to get the jaws of life to pry that apology out of him. The way he made it seem like he was making some grand statement was just silly. You were a jerk, admit it, and don't BUTMONKEY.
Jaws of Life. Luv it.
New word: disrepancies == disreputable discrepancies.
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