SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Upon arrival at San Francisco General Hospital late Saturday afternoon, 49ers general manager John Lynch walked in to greet Ricky Pearsall when the rookie receiver quickly inundated him with questions.
Not long before, Pearsall had been shot in the chest during an armed robbery attempt in the Union Square area of downtown San Francisco. But when Lynch got his first chance to speak with Pearsall, the rookie wideout wanted his general manager to know that he planned to get back on the field sooner than later.
“I think some of his earliest concerns is when he could play,” Lynch said Tuesday. “He’s asking me… I don’t know, but the surgeon was there and helping him through those type of thoughts.”
In the couple of days that followed, Pearsall was released from the hospital, returned to the 49ers training facility and placed on the reserve/non-football injury list. That designation means Pearsall must miss at least four games, but Lynch sounded certain on Tuesday that Pearsall is going to be able to return to play and help the Niners this season.
“He’s doing remarkably well,” Lynch said. “That’s kind of uncharted territory. It’s not every day you deal with something like this … It was just a lot for him to work through. Our medical experts felt [it was] too much to ask to come back within the next four weeks. We made that decision to at least give him that time. [It’s] really, really miraculous.”
On Sunday, Pearsall’s mother, Erin, posted to social media that her son had been shot in the chest with the bullet exiting out his back. Lynch added Tuesday that the bullet did not hit any of Pearsall’s organs and closer examination revealed no significant nerve damage.
Because of that, Pearsall did not need any surgery, which is why he was able to get out of the hospital less than 24 hours after being admitted. Lynch indicated any physical healing Pearsall has to do is largely centered on waiting for the bullet wounds to heal but said there will also be an emphasis on ensuring that the mental anguish of the shooting is treated as well.
“Ultimately we felt the number one thing we had to be concerned with was Ricky’s wellbeing, physically, emotionally, mentally,” Lynch said. “He’s going to need that time physically. He’s going to need that time emotionally, mentally … When we drafted Ricky, we did it for the long term and Ricky’s going to be a fantastic player here. He’s eager, he was disappointed but understood that we put him on that list. And what that entails, it’s four weeks at least, and we’re just going to take this as it comes.”
In speaking to Bay Area media for the first time since the shooting, Lynch spent the first few minutes of his news conference thanking all the medical, police and Niners staff who helped Pearsall through the shooting and then noted that Pearsall is already back with the team this week.
According to Lynch, Pearsall had been signing autographs at a local card show before the shooting and was shopping for luggage he can take with him on road trips when the shooting occurred. The suspect, a 17-year-old-male from Tracy, California, was also shot in the scuffle with Pearsall and was quickly arrested.
News of the shooting quickly began to spread to 49ers players, some of whom didn’t believe it. Jacob Cowing, a fellow rookie wide receiver, spoke to Pearsall about an hour before the shooting and when reports of the shooting began to circulate, he didn’t think it was true.
“I just thought it was all false,” Cowing said. “I thought it was fake. I tried to contact him to see if he was OK, if the rumors were fake or true. I didn’t hear anything back and at that moment, my adrenaline started going up a little bit. I started praying, making sure God had him and kept him safe … It was definitely a shocking moment.”
As teammates such as Cowing waited for more information to trickle out, the team was also scheduled for its annual Saturday before the season party. According to teammates, there was trepidation about attending but that was allayed by Pearsall.
Lynch said another of the first things Pearsall mentioned to him at the hospital was that he wanted the team party to go on as scheduled. It did and Pearsall made a surprise appearance, speaking to the team via FaceTime, a moment that some teammates said Tuesday they’ll never forget.
“I was concerned for his life,” guard Aaron Banks said. “It was really relieving to find out he was OK and healthy.”
For at least the next month, Pearsall will have time to recover from the shooting. The shoulder he injured in the preseason will also have additional time to heal, as Pearsall had been practicing with a blue no-contact jersey because of it.
But Pearsall will continue to be around the team, attend meetings and work his way back into the mix whenever the time is right. Just having him around has already been galvanizing, according to teammates who repeatedly pointed out just how stunning it is that Pearsall is already back in the building so soon after such a traumatic event.
“Multiple people down there said this is about as good as outcome as you could have in this situation,” Lynch said. “Ricky takes a lot of pride in being available and continues to point out, ‘I promise you, I’m not injury prone.’ This is not being injury prone … He’s going to be a fantastic player. The times we’ve seen him out on the play, he’s exactly what we envisioned and more and can’t wait to see that take place in due time. But first and foremost, we’re going to make sure that he’s all good and ready to go.”