49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall to miss at least four games of NFL season after being shot in attempted robbery

(CNN) — San Francisco 49ers rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall will miss at least the first four games of the 2024 NFL season after he was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery over the weekend.

The 49ers placed Pearsall, 23, on the reserve/non-football injury list on Monday, one week ahead of the team’s first regular-season game against the New York Jets on Monday Night Football.

The shooting took place at about 3:30 p.m. PT Saturday in San Francisco’s Union Square when a 17-year-old boy attempted to rob Pearsall at gunpoint, leading to a physical altercation, according to the San Francisco Police Department. Pearsall and the suspect were struck by gunfire from the suspect’s weapon, Police Chief William Scott said.

Officers rendered aid to Pearsall and the suspect and transported them to a hospital for treatment, police said. The 49ers initially said Pearsall was in “serious but stable condition,” and he was released from the hospital on Sunday.

The teenage suspect from Tracy, California, is in custody, police said.

San Francisco Police Sgt. Joelle Harrell told ABC she helped treat Pearsall’s wound and spoke to him in the moments after the shooting.

“He’s like, ‘Am I gonna die?’ and I told him, ‘Remember, you’re gonna be OK. You’re strong, right?’ Because I had told him out there, ‘Be strong like you are out there on the field,’” she said.

The daytime shooting at a busy commercial hub in San Francisco put a renewed spotlight on concerns about crime and violence in the city. Mayor London Breed said the shooting was “a terrible and rare incident in Union Square,” the well-trafficked public plaza where the city has increased police officer coverage in recent years.

“This incident does set us back from all of the hard work that we’ve done in order to make significant changes in public safety in San Francisco,” she said.

Police have not announced a possible motive for the shooting, but there is no indication Pearsall was targeted because he is a football player, Scott said on Saturday.

The chief said it appeared the suspect was acting alone. Only one gun was involved in the shooting and it has been recovered, Scott said.

Pearsall’s mother, Erin, wrote on Facebook on Sunday that the bullet entered through her son’s chest and exited out his back, missing vital organs.

The rookie wide receiver was drafted by San Francisco with the 31st pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft earlier this year. Before being drafted, Pearsall played three years at Arizona State and two at Florida during his collegiate career. In his last NCAA campaign, he amassed 965 receiving yards and six touchdowns with the Gators.

With the shooting, Pearsall joins an unenviable group of active NFL players who have been victims of gun violence in recent years.

In April, Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell suffered minor injuries in a mass shooting in Sanford, Florida.

Two years ago, Washington Commanders then-rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr. was shot twice in an attempted armed robbery just weeks before the start of the season. He missed four games before making a return to the field. Notably, the NFL franchise – at the time controlled by controversial owner Dan Snyder – used the shooting to criticize the “out-of-control violent crime in DC” as part of an attack on DC Attorney General Karl Racine, who was investigating the team’s workplace culture.

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