US Vice–President Dick Cheney accidentally shot the 78–year–old Texas attorney Harry Whittington on 11 February 2006, while they were shooting quail on a ranch near Riviera, Texas. (Riviera is a community of just under 2000 people, on the coast of southern Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville – about 80 miles from the Mexican border.) The two men were acquaintances but not close friends, and had never been hunting together before.
The incident made headlines the following day, and was dubbed 'Quailgate' in the American press. On 14 February (three days after the shooting), Whittington suffered a non–fatal heart attack due to a shotgun pellet lodged close to his heart. He was discharged from hospital on 17 February, and appears to have made a full recovery.
The Washington Post reported that Cheney had violated "two basic rules of hunting safety": he failed to ensure that he had a clear shot before firing, and he fired without being able to see blue sky beneath his target. The paper also reported that Cheney has never apologised to Whittington for the shooting, either publicly or privately.
The involvement of quail in the event may have given rise to some unfortunate confusion regarding this question. Dick Cheney was vice president to George W. Bush (2001–9), while J. Danforth Quayle III was vice president to George H. W. Bush (1989–93).
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