On This Day: VP Dick Cheney Shot Harry Whittington in the Face
With friends like Dick Cheney, who needs enemies?
On February 11, 2006, then-Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney, while hunting quail on a ranch in Kenedy County, Texas.
Cheney and Whittington were part of a small hunting party at the Armstrong Ranch, owned by Katherine Armstrong. According to reports, Whittington had separated from the group to retrieve a downed bird. As he returned, Cheney turned and fired his shotgun at a quail, but instead struck Whittington in the face, neck, and chest with birdshot from a 28-gauge shotgun.
Whittington was knocked to the ground but remained conscious. He was airlifted to Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi, where doctors removed pellets embedded in his face and body. On February 14, three days later, he suffered a minor heart attack due to a pellet lodged in or near his heart. Despite the injuries, he recovered and was discharged on February 17.
The White House did not immediately disclose the incident. The news broke the next day through Katherine Armstrong, not an official government statement. Cheney waited four days before publicly speaking about it, choosing to give an exclusive interview to Fox News on February 15. Whittington later publicly apologized to Cheney, which struck many as bizarre considering he was the one who got shot.
The incident became a major late-night comedy punchline, inspiring jokes about Cheney's aggression. Despite the severity, no legal charges were filed, as the shooting was ruled an accident. Whittington carried birdshot in his body for the rest of his life. He passed away in 2023 at age 95.
This remains one of the most infamous hunting accidents in U.S. political history—both for its absurdity and the way it was handled.
Source: Wikipedia