WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush knew Saturday evening that Vice President Dick Cheney had accidentally shot a hunting companion, but the information wasn't made public until the next day—by a private citizen—the White House said Monday. Spokesman Scott McClellan said the vice president's staff was focused on making sure that the shooting victim, Austin, Texas, attorney Harry Whittington, was receiving adequate medical care after the shooting on the private Armstrong Ranch in south Texas. Whittington and Cheney were hunting quail together.
Cheney apparently did not see Whittington, and the vice president accidentally hit him in the face, neck and chest with bird shot.
White House chief of staff Andy Card told Bush Saturday night about Cheney's involvement in the shotgun accident.
McClellan was informed 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."
Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong said no one discussed notifying the public of the accident Saturday because they were so consumed with making sure Whittington was OK. She said the family realized in the morning that it would be a story and decided to call the local newspaper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She said she then discussed the news coverage with Cheney for the first time.
"I said, Mr. Vice President, this is going to be public, and I'm comfortable going to the hometown newspaper," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "And he said you go ahead and do whatever you are comfortable doing."
McClellan said, "The vice president thought that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to go out there and provide that information to the public, which she did. She reached out early Sunday morning to do so."
The White House did not inform the national media of the accident, but the vice president's office confirmed the story after journalists called to ask about the report on the Caller-Times Web site nearly 24 hours after the shooting.
"I think you can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job," McClellan said when asked if he was satisfied how the situation was handled.
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