Marshall High Coach Paralyzed After Shooting, Gunman Held
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The gunman who left a Marshall-Metro High School assistant basketball coach paralyzed from the waist down after he shielded his daughter during a shooting in the Humboldt Park neighborhood last week was ordered held without bail Wednesday.
Deandre Thompson, 21, of the 800 block of North Springfield Avenue, faces two felony counts of attempted first-degree murder and one felony count of aggravated battery with a firearm, according to Chicago Police. Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Thompson held without bail Wednesday.
Shawn Harrington, 38, was stopped at an intersection while driving his 16-year-old daughter to school about 7:45 a.m. Jan. 30 in the 100 block of North Hamlin Avenue when the teen looked out the window and saw Thompson and another person, who has not been charged, walking on the sidewalk, Asst. State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said.
Moments later, Harrington heard several gunshots coming from their direction and leaned over his daughter to shield her, Scaduto said. The front window and rear passenger window were shattered by bullets, but Harrington drove off after the shooting and stopped a short while later.
Harrington was shot in the upper back and lower left arm, and is paralyzed from the waist down, Scaduto said.
Evidence technicians found a bullet lodged in the head rest where Harrington's teenage daughter was sitting, who was uninjured in the shooting, Scaduto said.
Harrington is an assistant basketball coach at Marshall High, and played for the basketball team that was later portrayed in the 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," according to Marshall varsity coach Henry Cotton.
Witnesses identified Thompson as the gunman in a video lineup and a still-frame image, and a nearby store video captured Thompson opening fire, Scaduto said.
Thompson, who according to his public defender lives with his mother and attends Malcolm X College, was convicted in March 2013 for reckless driving for evading police and crashing into a house. He also has a prior conviction of possession of a controlled substance.
He is next scheduled to appear in court Feb. 11.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
