Coach Paralyzed By Gunfire: 'I'm Going To Walk Again'
(CBS) -- Just two weeks ago, he was shot protecting his daughter.
Now, a Chicago high school basketball coach talks for the first time about his recovery.
Shawn Harrington talked with CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez about the shooting, his diagnosis and what's next.
Harrington can't believe the support he's received since being shot -- paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet police say was meant for someone else.
"It's a bit overwhelming," he says of the response.
The 38-year-old assistant basketball coach from Marshall High School had a very close call. He was driving through Humboldt Park with his teenage daughter Jan. 30 when shots rang out.
"Just instinctively I grabbed her head and pushed her head down and covered her body with as much of my body as I could," Harrington says. "That was the most frightening part of the whole ordeal."
Two days into a stay at Chicago's Rehabilitation Institute, his doctor says he has a winning attitude.
"We don't know what degree of neurological recovery he's going to have or how much his nerves will wake up at this point," Dr. Leslie Rydberg says. "I really look forward to working with him and seeing what we can do for him."
A former Marshall Basketball player himself, featured in the documentary "Hoop Dreams," Harrington says he's a fighter.
"I know I'm going to walk again," he says. "I'm in it for the long haul."
A 21-year-old man is facing attempted murder and aggravated battery charges in Harrington's shooting. The coach says one reason he likes working with youth is that he has a chance to steer them on the right path.
