Harry Whittington, the Texas lawyer and significant state GOP power broker who was shot in the face by then-Vice President Dick Cheney nearly two decades ago, has passed away. He was 95.
Mercedes Baker, Whittington’s widow, confirmed to the New York Times on Monday that her husband passed away quietly at home early on Saturday after a brief illness.
In February 2006, Whittington, a well-known attorney in Austin, gained worldwide attention when Cheney unintentionally shot him in the face and body while quail hunting on a sizable South Texas property.
Whittington, who was 78 at the time, was left covered with dozens of tiny birdshot pellets and passed out. Blood arteries close to his heart were damaged, resulting in what was at the time described as a small heart attack.
The victim shocked the world when he publicly apologised to Cheney after leaving the hospital a week later with his face severely damaged and still sporting obvious birdshot pockmarks.
“We all assume certain risks with whatever we do … Accidents do and will happen,” said Whittington. “My family and I are deeply sorry for all that Vice President Cheney and his family have had to go through this past week.”
“We send our love and respect to them, as they deal with situations that are much more serious than what we’ve had to deal with this week,” he added.
“We hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves.”
Cheney’s aides initially tried to blame Whittington for getting in the way while going to retrieve a shot quail, but in a subsequent interview on Fox News, the vice president took responsibility for what happened, saying, “I pulled the trigger.”
The episode served as the catalyst for countless late-night gags about Cheney and was shown in the 2018 film “Vice,” which was directed by Adam McKay and starred Christian Bale as the powerful vice president of President George W. Bush.
Whittington, who was 91 years old at the time of the movie’s premiere, sat down for an interview with Corpus Christi Caller to discuss his near-death experience.
He claimed that the scent of gunpowder in the air was the last thing he remembered before collapsing.
Whittington claimed that he and Cheney kept in touch after the shooting and even shared a meal earlier that year, but he still referred to them as “simply acquaintances.”
Whittington further revealed to the newspaper that he still had some pellets lodged in his body and that, due to his senior age, he had given up hunting.
Cheney wrote in his 2011 autobiography “In My Time” that he was “truly regretful” for what Whittington and his family had through.
“The day of the hunting accident was one of the saddest of my life,” the former vice president said.
Cheney, 82, has not publicly commented on Whittington’s passing as of Monday.
