'Sad How Crime Ridden San Francisco Is' — 49ers Fans Angry After Ricky Pearsall Shooting

The NFL community was rattled when it was it was reported one of its players was shot.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest.

A 17-year-old resident of Tracy, California, at 3:30 pm PST accosted Pearsall in broad daylight as part of a robbery attempt. Not taking too kindly to being shaken down, Pearsall proceeded to fight the kid.

While most people would put their money on the professional 6'1, 192 lbs athlete competing in one of the world's most competitive and physicall demanding athletic organizations, the teen had a secret weapon.

Not a metaphoric one but...an actual weapon. As in a gun.

According to CNN, Pearsall was shot in the chest by the now alleged juvenile attempted murderer. Authorities describe an altercation that sounds like Pearsall fought back even though the young man was strapped, as both of them ended up shot as a result of their fight.

Both individuals sustained injuries as a result of the firearm scuffle and the San Francisco 49ers said that while their player is in stable condition, his health status is still considered "serious."

It's unlikely that the identity of the attempted robber will be released as they are legally a juvenile. Police managed to intercept and bring the would-be alleged killer into custody.

San Francisco's Police Chief William Scott relayed in a statement during a news conference that the assailant's gun purportedly sounded off several times throughout the duration of their struggle.

"Given that the suspect is a juvenile at this time, those charges will be filed in the juvenile court as we continue to review the evidence to figure out where we go from there."

In October of 2023, Axios reported that "gun-related homicides are on the rise in San Francisco."

Some said that Mayor Breed used the near death of a beloved sports figure as an opportunity to protect her political image by claiming robberies like the one attempted by the 17-year-old were infrequent.

In 2022, findings published by California state's own Public Policy Institute wrote that the "highest rate of property crime was in the San Francisco Bay Area."

And then there's the epidemic of car break ins that have seemingly become so commonplace that criminals are speed running their break-ins.

If one wanted to be sarcastic, they would say that the SFPD's decision to turn to "fancy" drone tech in order to catch folks busting out car windows to steal a few bucks worth of stuff certainly wasn't done because 59 whips on average, are involved in smash and grab operations every day.

Mayor Breed's verbiage was more direct in a post she made on X, which was met with a wave of criticism from folks on the platform. In it, she wrote: "This afternoon, there was an attempted robbery in Union Square involving San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall and he was shot. SFPD was on scene immediately and an arrest of the shooter was made. My thoughts are with Ricky and his family at this time. We will provide more updates, including on his condition, as I receive them."

Distractify wishes Pearsall a speedy recovery, and our hearts go out to his family and friends who are going through such a difficult time.