Reporting Lag In Cheney Shooting
Incident Wasn’t Made Public For Nearly 24 Hours; Victim Is 'Very Stable'
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Play CBS Video Video Questions On Cheney Shooting The aftermath of Vice President Cheney's misguided gunfire boiled over to the White House, where reporters questioned why the public didn't hear of the incident for 21 hours. Jim Axelrod reports.
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Video Cheney's Hunting Gaffe The Texas lawyer who Vice President Cheney accidentally shot while hunting is making a quick recovery. As Lee Cowan reports, the shooting mishap is not uncommon in bird hunting.
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Video WH Gets Heat Over Cheney The White House is feeling some heat after almost 24 hours elapsed before a shooting accident involving Vice President Dick Cheney and his friend was reported to the media. Jennifer Donelan reports.
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Vice President Dick Cheney (AP)
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Vice President Dick Cheney, center, accepts a rifle from National Rifle Association President Kayne Robinson, right, and NRA Vice President Wayne R. LaPierre, after concluding his keynote address to the 133rd annuanl NRA convention in this April 17, 2004 file photo in Pittsburgh. (AP (file))
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Interactive Guns In America State-by-state gun laws and death rates, maps of recent school and workplace shootings and facts on who's at risk.
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Interactive Cheney's Heart Troubles Learn more about Dick Cheney's history of heart disease and how angioplasty, stents and pacemakers work.
The incident occurred Saturday but was not made public for nearly 24 hours – and then by a private citizen.
The shooting victim, 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington, was recovering in stable condition Monday, a hospital official said.
Whittington "rested well last night," said Peter Banko, hospital administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial. The hospital listed Whittington's condition as "very stable," he said.
Banko said he did not know when Whittington would be released.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan was peppered with questions Monday about why it took so long for the incident to be disclosed. McClellan said the first priority was making sure Whittington was getting the medical care he needed, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports.
Cheney apparently did not see Whittington, and the vice president accidentally hit him in the face, neck and chest with bird shot while the two were hunting quail.
The vice president is a lifelong hunter and ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said both he and Whittington were wearing orange safety vests, CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports.
White House chief of staff Andy Card told President Bush Saturday night about Cheney's involvement in the shotgun accident.
McClellan said he first learned Saturday night that someone in the Cheney hunting party was involved, but he didn't know that Cheney was the shooter until the next morning, the spokesman said.
McClellan said when he learned, around 6 a.m. Sunday, he urged the vice president's office to get the information out "as quickly as possible."
Kenedy County Texas Sheriffs Lt. Juan Guzman said deputies first learned of the shooting when an ambulance was called.
But the Secret Service told a different story, saying agents had informed the local sheriff of the shooting about an hour after it happened and that the vice president had been interviewed about the accident by local authorities on Sunday morning, CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante reports.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
