KENEDY COUNTY DEPARTHENT TX 1310000 INCIDENT REPORT 02111l'2006 NUMBER 06029138 REPORT DATE 0211 $2006 OBI T1131 0000 LOCATION RANCH ZONE At approximately 1830 on Saturday February It 2006 Kerredy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas contacted me Chief Dequ Gilberto San Miguel Jr The phone call was in reference to a hunting accident that occurred on the Ranch 1 was told by Sheriff Salinas to report to the main house on the Ranch on Sunday February 12 at 0800 and I would receive more information when I got there On Sunday February 12 2006 at approximately 0805 hrs I Chief Deputy Gilberto San Miguel Jr arrived at the bump gate to the Ranch This ranch is located approximately twentyvone miles south of Sarita Texas in Kenedy County There at the bump gate Secret Service and Border Patrol personnel met me I identi ed myself and told everyone I was to report to the main house I was to park my vehicle so it could be inspected before I could procwd to the main house While my vehicle was getting impacted a Secret Service agent approached me and he advised me he would be riding with me to the main house As I was approaching the main house I was instructed to park my vehicle by the cattle guard There I walked across the cattle guard and was turned over to another agent who identi ed himself to me as Michael A Lee Special Agent in charge with the Secret Service As we entered the main house Mr Lee introduced me to Vice President Cheney Mr Cheney shook my hand and told me he was there to cooperate in any way with the interview As I not comfortable at a table inside the main house I asked Mr Cheney if he could explain to me what had happened the day of the incident Mr Cheney told are that on Saturday February ll 2006 at approximately 5 30 pm on the Ranch there was a three vehicle hunting party that consisted of himself Bo Hubert Pam 1Willel ord Jerry Medellin Katharine Sarita Hilton Harry Whittington and Oscar Medellin Mr Cheney told me the sun was setting to the west when the dogs had located a covey Around the same time Oscar Medellin noti ed the hunters he had also located a covey After the group shot at the first my he and Pam Willeford proceeded to the second covey because Harry Whinington was looking for his downed birds Mr Cheney told me he and Pam Willeford had walked approximately 100 yards from the rst location and met up with Oscar Medellin and the hunting guide Bo Hubert There was a single bird that ew behind him and he follower the bird by line of sight in a counter clockwise direction not realizing Harry Whittington had walked up from behind and had positioned himself approximately 30 yards to the nest of him Mr Cheney told me the reason Han-y Whittington sustained the injuries to his face and upper body was that Mr Whittington was standing on ground that was lower than the one he was standing on Mr Cheney told me if Mr Whittington was on the same ground level the injuries might have been lower on Mr Whinington s body STATUS CLOSED STATUS 02 151'2006 OFFICER 3h MIGUEL GILBERTO JR 502 0315 2005 16 00 PM 1 WW k KENEDY COUNTY DEPARTMENT TX 1310000 INCIDENT REPORT 0211 1 RODS NUMBER 08020136 REPORT DATE 0211512006 ORI LOCATION ARESTRONG RANCH ZONE The weapon Mr Cheney was using at the time of the incident was an over under twenty- eight gauge shotgun It had a brand name of Perazzi and was made in Italy The serial number on the weapon read I 15288 At that time I told Mr Cheney I didn't need any more information at this time but how could I reach him Mr Cheney told me I could contact Mr Lee I then excused myself and proceeded out of the main house While outside around the headquarters was able to locate and get from Gerardo Medellin TX dlt i who helped me identify the other people in the hunting party Michael Andrew Hubert TX - Pamela Pitzer Willeford TX and Katharine till l I was able to speak briefly with Katharine who told me pretty much the same story Mr Cheney told me See her written statement for further details On Morelay February I3 2006 at approximately 1 Chief Deputy Gilberto San Miguel Jr and Lt Juan J Guzman went to Spohn Memorial Heepital located in Corpus Christi Texas to speak with Harry Whittington We were escorted to Mr Whinington's room and there I introduced Lt Guzman and myself to Mr Whittington who was sitting in a chair I told Mr Whittington we needed to speak with him on the incident that occurred Saturday February 11 2006 i asked Mr Whittington if we could record our conversation and Mr Whittington requested not to be recorded due to his voice being raspy It was then I reqwstod a written af davit be done and Mr Whittington gladly agreed to do one as soon as he relented back home to his office Mr Whittington did speak of the incident and explained foremost there was no alcohol during the hunt and everyone was wearing the proper hunting attire of blaze orange The hunting group was out to shoot a covey that the dogs had found about the some time a second covey was found by the outrider The rst covey was flushed and he got a double While looking for the downed birds he had retumed back at one point to the hunting vehicles where Katharine and Sarita were to let them go for the second covey However Katharine had told him to go and shoot the sewnd covey So at that time he proceeded to join the hunters who had already moved from the rst location At that time a nurse came in the room and asked Lt Guzman and to kind of hurry up so Mr Whittington could rest Mr Whittington again reiterated that this incident was just an accident lle was concerned this incident would bring a bad imagine to hunting in Texas I then told Mr Whiltington I would give him a call in a few days to get the written af davit STATUS CLOSED STATUS DATE 02l1512006 OFFICER SAN MIGUEL GILBERTO JR 502 02f1520l5 16 00 M 2 KENEOY COUNTY DEPARTIEHT TX 1 310000 IHGIOENT REPORT 0311m08 NUMBER 00020130 REPORT DATE 021192006 ORI 1310000 LOCATION RANCH ZONE On Tuesday February 14 2006 I spoke with Gerardo Medellin who dictated to me as I wrote his af davit See Af davit for further details I was also taken to the area were the incident occurred The pasture name is the Comal Pasture and it is located at approximately four miles west of US Highway 77 The GPS readings for this incident was retrieved from my phone as 26 $6 35 97 50 420 while on location I was able to understand more how Mr Cheney and Katharine described the area in their statement On Wednesday February IS 2006 I was able to make contact with Katharine Amati-orig Sarita Hixon Pamela Willeford and Michael Hubert i requested a written af davit from each one of them I was able to get everyonc's af davit except for Mr Huben s af davit He told he would be in the area sometime Friday February 2006 and would get in contact with me STATUS DATE 031512006 OFFICER SAN MIGUEL JR 502 0211532006 16 00 PM 3 COUNTY DEPARTMENT SUPPLEMENT REPORT 02 1mm 05020136 REPORT DATE 031532005 1310000 LOCATION RANCH ZONE On February 11 2006 at approximately 5 30 1 Ramon Salinas and Sheriff of Kenedy County received a telephone call at my home from Captain Charles Kirk in reference to a possible hunting accident that had occurred on the Ranch Captain Kirk stated that he was on his way to the gate to get more information About 8 to 10 minutes later I received another call from a United States Secret Service Agent I believe his name was Martinez He said that the purpose of the call was to officially notify the Kenedy County Sheriff's Office of a hunting accident that had just occurred on the Ranch and that it involved Vice-President Cheney After I hung up Captain Kirk called me back and said that he'd made contact with a Border Patrol agent at the gate and that the Agent told him that he didn't know anything about the accident I then told Captain Kirk that it was fine and that 1 would contact someone on the Ranch After speaking with Captain Kirk I contacted Constable Ramiro Medellin former Sheriff of Kenedy County and asked him it he had any information about the accident- Constable Medellin stated that he would call me right back- Constable Medellin returned my call and said This in fact is an accident He stated that he had spoken with some of the peopLe in the hunting party who were eyewitnesses and that they all said it was definitely a hunting accident I also spoke with another eyewitness and he said the same thing that it was an accident Miter hearing the same information irom eyewitnesses and Constable Medellin it was at this time that I decided to send my Chief DepuLy first thing Sunday morning to interview the Vice President and other witnesses STATUS CLOSED DATE serum were saunas won 501 0315120m 16 00 PM KENEOY COUNTY DEPARTMENT 111310000 SUPPLEIIENT REPORT 0211 2008 NUMBER 06020138 REPORT DATE 031512006 ORI 1310000 LOCATION RANCH ZONE WONG a few minutes later I received another call from the Secret Service asking if I was going to send someone to the Ranch 1 told him that someone would be there first thing in the morning The Secret Service said they would be at the gate waiting At approximately 6 15 p m I contacted Chief Deputy San Miguel and advised him of the incident and to be at the gate at approximately 8 00 a m See Chief Deputy Gilberto San Miguel'a report for further information STATUS OLOBEO STATUS DATE 0231512006 OFFICER SALINAS BARON 501 021192006 16 00 PM 2 This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu