From Holden:

It doesn’t sound like the Whittington’s think their patriarch was merely “peppered”.

Sally [Whittington] May said her father does not recall a lot of the incident, nor was he involved in how or whether information about the incident was released: “He didn’t know at the time if he was going to the hospital or the mortuary.”

Was Harry Whittington “joking” about going to the mortuary? Someone should ask Katharine Armstrong.