Former high school basketball coach talks about recovery after shooting, paralysis

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Shawn Harrington admits it is difficult to talk about the day he was shot.

But the 39-year-old says he does it to show others what violence can do.

The basketball coach and former high school player, who was in the 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," was a victim of mistaken identity when a bullet missed his heart by a couple inches.

Every day is a new challenge for Harrington, but this former Marshall High School basketball coach and teacher knows, time does heal - although, not enough of it has passed to forget the day he was shot.

"If there was an announcer calling it play-by-play, I remember everything vividly because I never lost consciousness through the whole thing," Harrington said.

The memory plays over and over in Harrington's mind. It was Jan. 30, 2014, at 7:30 a.m. Harrington was driving his daughter to school on his way to work and they were stopped at the light on the corner of Augusta Boulevard and Hamlin in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood when shots rang out.

"I felt myself get hit a couple times in the back and I almost instantly lost feeling in my legs," he said.

With bullets flying everywhere, Harrington pushed his 15-year-old daughter down, covering her body with his.

"As I picked up my head to look, the first thing I noticed was a bullet hole through the passenger head rest where my daughter was sitting," he said.

With relief that his daughter was not injured, Harrington was left with his new reality, paralyzed from the chest down. At first, all he could do was cry and think about his days coaching and playing high school and college basketball.

"Ever since I was able to walk and run, I've been revolved around athletics," he said.

Harrington is determined to play ball again. For months, he has been part of a Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago study testing new technology that allows him to stand and walk.

"I feel like I'm 7-feet-tall in that thing, it gives me so much promise and hope that I will be able to live a normal life again," Harrington said.

A normal life, which means returning to coaching and teaching at Marshall High School.

In the meantime, Harrington will be telling his story to high school athletes this weekend.

Because they are respected in their neighborhoods, Harrington says student athletes can play a big role in trying to resolve conflicts that result in gun violence.