How 49-year-old Ricky Pearsall managed to ‘Father’ the teenager who shot him

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall offered his perspective on being shot in the chest during an armed robbery attempt last year.

Pearsall, 24, was in hospital as a result of the shooting in August 2024, which happened in Union Square in San Francisco when a 17-year-old boy tried to rob the football star at gunpoint.

“I don’t know how he was raised, so I can’t judge him as a man based on one act that he did, as violent as a crime,” Pearsall told reporters on Monday, January 6. “God forbid he did that to someone else. I never want that to happen.”

Pearsall added, “But for me, just being able to forgive him. I have to be able to forgive him for getting that weight off my chest.”

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Three days after the shooting, an unnamed minor accused of attempted murder in relation to the event. The suspect, who remains in jail, also faces a charge of second-degree robbery and a charge of assault with a semi-automatic firearm.

“At some point, I want to talk to the kid,” Pearsall said. “If I can make an impact on him in any way, I think that would be very good and I would certainly be open to doing that.”

Pearsall was hospitalized in a “serious, but stable” condition after the shooting. He was released the following day.

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“A battle ensued between Mr. Pearsall and the suspect and hit a gun from the gun of the suspect Mr. Pearsall and the suspect,” San Francisco police chief Bill Scott He said in a statement after the event. “This type of violence is completely unacceptable in our city and we will do everything we can to work with District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to ensure that justice is served in this matter.”

Pearsall, who was drafted by the 49ers with the 31st overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, missed the team’s first six games of the season as a result of his injuries. He made his NFL debut on October 20, 2024, exactly 50 days after he was shot.

“It meant everything,” Pearsall told reporters after the game. “Obviously, all the adversity I went through in the last few months, it was really good to get out there with my guys again.”

He continued, “At the end of the day when the first incident happened, the first thing I thought about was the guys and the coaches in this locker room, the whole staff, and they did a really good job of rallying o’ m scope, making sure I stayed up, and it was a huge blessing for me.”