NFL Trade Rumors
49ers WR Ricky Pearsall spoke about the August 2024 San Francisco shooting that could have cost him his life or his career. He was shot once in the chest by a 17-year-old, who was soon arrested by police.
“My adrenaline was rushing. I didn’t feel, really, much pain at all. It was just more of like a burning sensation,” Pearsall told ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry. “I’m very religious. I’m a Christian. I just didn’t know if I was going to go to heaven or hell. I definitely thought about my family … not knowing if I was going to tell my family I love them again.”
“Then, I analyzed the situation and was like, ‘OK, this guy doesn’t really look like a fan at all,'” Pearsall said. “He was in all black, hoodie on, and he obviously had his gun out immediately…I had a sleeveless shirt on and, like, the hole was very visible, blood coming out everywhere…”I may have looked calm, but really I was freaking out. In my mind, it was like, ‘Let’s get a move on.’ Like, ‘Let’s get on the stretcher, let’s get to the hospital.'”
The bullet entered through Pearsall’s chest and exited through his back. He recovered quickly and made his NFL debut just a few months later.
“Initially, honestly, like, the physical part, it was difficult,” Pearsall added. “My arm was basically, like, nonexistent. Like, it felt really dead and scar tissue — I had a lot of soreness initially. But I wasn’t worried about that. Like, pain wasn’t really relevant for me. It was more of the mental battle as far as, like, PTSD is a real thing. I’ve had a few incidents where I have been spooked for no reason because of just replaying things in my mind or maybe, like, certain sounds or certain, like, movements of people, like, would freak me out initially.”
“I want to live a happy life,” Pearsall concluded. “Reality is, I am here. I’m alive. A lot of good people around me. I shouldn’t be freaking out about certain things, holding myself back from the moments that I could be where my feet are at and enjoying my life.”
