Teen Accused of Shooting 49ers Rookie Ricky Pearsall Is Charged With Attempted Murder

Updated 6:40 p.m. Tuesday

The teenage boy suspected of shooting San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall near Union Square was charged Tuesday with attempted murder and other crimes, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said.

The attempted murder charge carries a special allegation of the personal and intentional discharge of a firearm. The suspect, identified only as a 17-year-old boy from Tracy, also faces charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and attempted second-degree robbery.

For now, the charges will be filed in juvenile court, Jenkins said at an afternoon press conference, noting that California law requires prosecutors to request a judge to rule on a minor’s fitness to be tried in the adult system. Jenkins’ office is still reviewing the case as it considers whether to seek a transfer to adult court, she said.

“This is still a very fresh investigation,” Jenkins said, calling it “premature” for her to say whether she believes the suspect should be tried as an adult.

The teenager is expected to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Pearsall, 23, was shot in the chest on Saturday afternoon and released from San Francisco General Hospital the next day.

While the rookie has been added to the non-football injury list, meaning he will not play in at least the 49ers’ first four games, his team has confirmed he is back in the weight room and will be expected on the field this season. At a press conference on Tuesday, general manager John Lynch called the recovery of the team’s first-round draft pick “nothing short of miraculous.”

“By the grace of God, Ricky Pearsall is here with the team, and doing well,” Lynch said. “We just all feel incredibly blessed.”

After appearing at an autograph signing earlier Saturday, Pearsall was walking to his car alone at 3:30 p.m., carrying shopping bags from one of Union Square’s luxury stores, when the suspect “spotted him for his expensive watch,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The suspect approached Pearsall at gunpoint over the Rolex near the corner of Geary Street and Grant Avenue. Pearsall and the suspect struggled over the gun, and during the tussle, both were shot, police said.

Video recorded by witnesses shows Pearsall in a daze in front of the Diptyque store, shirtless with blood streaming down his chest and a large bandage over the wound, as paramedics help him into an ambulance. Both Pearsall and the suspected shooter were transferred to San Francisco General Hospital for care.

Pearsall’s mother posted on social media on Sunday that her son had been shot in the chest, with the bullet exiting his back and missing his vital organs. Pearsall’s wound did not require surgery, the 49ers confirmed in a statement.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said a gun was recovered at the scene.

Scott, who spoke with Pearsall about what happened, added it doesn’t appear Pearsall was targeted due to being an NFL player. Jenkins said Tuesday that it was not yet clear whether the suspect acted alone or with anyone else, adding that police were still reviewing surveillance video and other evidence.

In 2022, the San Francisco Police Department warned of thieves targeting individuals wearing luxury watches such as Rolexes valued at tens of thousands of dollars.

Mayor London Breed noted that this kind of incident is rare, and thanked law enforcement and first responders. “We hope that people who think that they can come to San Francisco and commit these acts understand that they will be held to account,” Breed said.

The attack on Pearsall has renewed fears over crime despite city data showing declining rates — in the first quarter of 2024, property crime fell by 32%, violent crime by 14%, and gun violence by 38%, according to the city. On the day of the shooting, mayoral candidate Mark Farrell criticized Breed on social media.

“Enough is enough,” he posted on X. “If we want public safety in San Francisco, then we need change in City Hall.”

Farrell also referenced the Aug. 21 shooting of a Galileo High School student and the severe injury of a young girl in a shooting in the Crocker-Amazon neighborhood the same day Pearsall was attacked.

Farrell’s opponents quickly responded and called the move to politicize the shooting “crass” and “opportunistic.”

Concerns about public safety have remained a top issue for voters, and such a high-profile shooting in broad daylight threatens to become a public relations disaster as San Francisco struggles to rehabilitate the image of downtown.

Jenkins said she did not want to make an example of any case but argued she was elected district attorney “in large part because the city was fed up with the fact that crime was being overly tolerated.”

“And so I have attempted to make it clear that there will be accountability when people commit crimes, most certainly serious crimes of this nature,” she said. “Regardless of the status of the victim, my office’s job is to ensure that we have appropriate consequences, and I do want it to spread far and wide that that will be the case when something happens in San Francisco.”

KQED’s Jared Servantez and Billy Cruz contributed to this report.