Cheney mentions him as being in the hunting party (he found the second covey), but there is no further mention of him being interviewed or providing an affadavit.
From here:
Mr. Cheney told me that on Saturday, February 11, 2006 at approximately 5:30 pm on the Armstrong Ranch that there was a three vehicle hunting party that consisted of himself, Bo Hubert, Pam Willeford, <u>Jerry Medellin</u>, Katharine Armstrong, Sarita Armstrong Hixon, Harry Whittington, and <u>Oscar Medellin</u>.
So there were eight people in the hunting party (well, eight people at the scene anyway…)
So, there are 3 Medellin’s involved:
-
1. Jerry (Gerardo) Medellin who was identified in one of the reports as the “hunting guide”. But so was Bo Hubert! Can a hunting party with 8 people have two hunting giudes? I guess…
2. Oscar Medellin who Cheney mentions as being with Bo Hubert and having identified the second covey and never mentioned again…
3. Ramiro Medellin, the guy who used to be a sheriff, now works at the ranch and was the guy who the current Sheriff called to find out what happened. It was Ramiro Medellin who called the Sheriff back and said it was an accident. That was when he made the decision not to go out until the next morning (sounds like, anyway…)
Also, if you read all of the accounts, it sounds like Jerry Medellin, Kathering Armstrong and Sarita Hixon were hanging out in the vehicles while the other “group of 5” were hunting! But how does that jive with one of the reports indicating that Jerry (Gerardo) Medellin was the hunting guide?
So what happened to Oscar? Why no mention of him from anyone else doing the investigation?
(FYI, I found an Oscar Medellin who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1999 from Texas A&M. If this is the guy, he sounds young – mid to late 20’s?)
Anyway, it’s all kind of bizarre, I think…
Let me clear up a few things.
First of all, Ramiro Medellin was THE sheriff, as in the head peace officer of Kenedy County.
Oscar Medellin was one of his “constables” or deputies.
From here.
Pax
Not that I ever want to have a dispute with Soj (I think you’re awesome by the way, and I love your work), but…
Your link is from 2000.
Ramiro Medellin was a FORMER sheriff and currently IS a constable and also works at the ranch.
Jerry (Gerardo) Medellin works at the ranch. Oscar is his son.
Read through all of the five reports that I link to from the Smoking Gun and you’ll see.
Cheers!
Sorry I didn’t make it clearer and thanks for doing it for me!
Pax
.
The report, written by Chief Deputy Gilbert San Miguel Jr., quotes Cheney and Whittington as saying the shooting was an accident. They said no one was drinking alcohol during the hunt, according to the report. Interviewed in his hospital room in Corpus Christi, Whittington expressed concern only that the incident would hurt hunting’s image in Texas, the report said.
“Mr. Whittington did speak of the incident and explained foremost that there was no alcohol during the hunt and everyone was wearing the proper hunting attire of blaze orange,” the report said.
[…]
The sheriff’s 2 1/2-page report says that San Miguel began his investigation at the Armstrong Ranch at 8 a.m. Sunday, 14 1/2 hours after the shooting occurred. Cheney told San Miguel that a hunting party of seven, riding in three vehicles, was looking for quail in a pasture when dogs located a covey. Whittington, interviewed in his hospital room, told San Miguel that he hit two birds in that covey. Then a hunting guide, Bo Hubert, discovered a second covey. Cheney, who had not shot any birds in the first covey, walked 100 yards with Pamela Pitzer Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, to try his luck with the second. He carried a 28-gauge Italian-made shotgun.
Whittington told the sheriff’s department that he looked for his downed birds and then walked over to the hunting vehicles. Armstrong, the report said, then told him to join Cheney and Willeford in their hunt for the second covey. So Whittington followed after them.
Katharine Armstrong had told reporters earlier this week that Whittington “came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn’t signal them or indicate to them or announce himself.”
Meanwhile, quail had been scared from the second covey. Cheney told the sheriff’s department that a single bird flew behind him and he followed the bird by line of sight in a counter-clockwise direction, not realizing Whittington had walked up from behind and had positioned himself approximately 30 yards away. Standing on a small hill, Cheney fired down, spraying Whittington’s face, neck and chest with birdshot. “Cheney told me the reason Harry Whittington sustained the injuries to his face and upper body,” the report said, “was that Mr. Whittington was standing on ground that was lower than the one he was standing on.”
Dick Cheney, U.S. Vice President, huntingquail in Gettysburg, South Dakota. (AP)
After interviewing Cheney on Sunday, San Miguel returned to the ranch on Tuesday to see the pasture where the shooting occurred.
The incident has been a big topic among the many hunters and gun enthusiasts in this region. Ken Tuggle, manager of the Corpus Christi Pistol & Rifle Club, said he could not believe that a blast at 30 yards from a 28-gauge shotgun, which shoots fewer pellets and has a smaller shot pattern than a 12-gauge shotgun, could pass through a hunting jacket and a shirt and that the pellets could become embedded near a victim’s heart. “It’s hard to fathom,” he said.
But George Gongora, a photographer for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, conducted a test earlier this week, firing pellets similar to the ones Cheney used at a target. He said he was convinced that the pellets, which he estimated were moving at 1,400 feet a second, could tear through clothing and skin.
Other hunters questioned why Cheney was shooting down at a flying bird. “The idea behind quail hunting is that you have to hit the quail when it’s about five to 10 feet in the air,” said Wade Wilson, a South Texas hunting guide. “Quail don’t fly very high. But nobody should be shooting down.”
● Harry Whittington – Texas Funeral Service Commission
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Odd that if you read San Miguel’s actual report (the link in my diary), it conflicts with the WaPo report you just quoted:
I dunno, I just think Oscar would be a great guy to interview on what went down…
.
On February 11, 2006 at approximately 5:30 p.m., I, Ramon Salinas III, and Sheriff of Kenedy County …
17:30 Received a call at home from Captain Charles Kirk, he was on his way to the Armstrong Ranch.
17:38 Received a call from SS agent (Martinez) with official notification of a hunting accident on the Armstrong Ranch that involved VP Cheney.
17:45? Captain Kirk called back and said he had made contact with a Border Patrol agent at the Armstrong gate and he didn’t know anything about the accident. I then told Captain Kirk that it was fine and that I would contact someone on the ranch.
17:50? I contacted Constable Ramiro Medellin Jr., former Sheriff of Kenedy County and asked him if 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.
… it was at this time that I decided to send my Chief Deputy first thing Sunday morning to interview the VP and other witnesses.
[What happened to Captain Kirk at the Armstrong gate with the Border Patrol agent? – Oui]
Armstrong gate with post office entry.???? A few minutes later, I received another call from the SS asking if I was going to send someone to the Ranch. I told him that someone would be there first thing in the morning. The SS said they would be at the gate waiting.
18:15 I contacted Chief Deputy San Miguel and advised him of the incident and to be at the gate at approx. 08:00 a.m.
Events as they unfolded, there is no mention of any casualty in the period from 17:30 thru 18:15 hours in the report made up by Sheriff Ramon Salinas III of Kenedy County (Report Number 06020136 Date: February 15, 2006)
Where was the hunting party, the eight persons with three vehicles, the ambulance for transport of the badly injured Harry Whittington? How did Constable Medellin interview members of the hunting party in such a short period of time? How did Sheriff Salinas interview a witness himself in the same period?
Nothing was mentioned about the casualty of Harry Whittington and his transport to the hospital in Corpus Christi. Sounds like a Secret Service mission à la Cheney.
What happened to Captain Kirk and the Border Patrol agent at the Armstrong gate?
Secret Service agents who were with Cheney did not file an incident report about the shooting because other law enforcement agencies were conducting the investigation, said Jim Mackin, the agency’s deputy assistant director.
He also said it was the Kenedy County sheriff who decided not to interview Cheney on Saturday, but to wait until Sunday morning. “If they had said we’re coming out now (Saturday evening), we would have facilitated it,” Mackin said.
Mackin said a local officer had come to the ranch gate Saturday night to offer help after about the ambulance responding there, but left when officers at the gate said they were unaware of any emergency. The Secret Service says early reports that agents turned away deputies wanting to interview Cheney were wrong.
Cheney said he had had a beer at lunch that day but nobody was drinking when they went back out to hunt a couple hours later. Law enforcement officials have ruled out alcohol as a factor, but have not explained how they determined it was not involved.
Salinas and San Miguel said the Secret Service has the utmost respect for their department, a relationship that has been refined through the years, through the vice president’s visits to the area.
“They don’t treat us like a backdoor police department, like someone under them,” Salinas said.
San Miguel said the case was not investigated as a criminal incident. He also noted that there were no 911 calls or radio transmissions between dispatchers and deputies because the calls went to the sheriff’s home.
San Miguel and Lt. Juan Guzman interviewed Whittington at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial on Monday, San Miguel said.
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY