He was scheduled to play in his first game for the San Francisco 49ers on his 24th birthday.
Instead, the rookie wide receiver watched the 49ers’ season opener against the New York Jets from the sidelines in street clothes on Monday night, just nine days after arriving in San Francisco’s Union Square neighborhood.
Although he will have to wait at least three more weeks before starting his professional career while on the non-football injured list, Pearsall appeared just as happy and energetic before the game as he has been since the Aug. 31 incident.
Pearsall, a former Arizona State and Florida State receiver, presented San Francisco Police Sergeant Joel Harrell and Dr. Lucy Kornblith with an autographed No. 14 jersey and exchanged enthusiastic embraces. The Levi’s Stadium crowd praised them and others for their efforts that allowed Pearsall to be released from San Francisco General Hospital just one day after the shooting and return to the team facility the day after that.
Pearsall, the 49ers’ 31st overall pick in 2019, was returning alone to his car after shopping at an upscale store when he was attacked by a man aiming for his Rolex watch. Police said the gunman fired multiple times during the ensuing struggle, striking both Pearsall and the assailant.
According to a social media post from Pearsall’s mother, Erin, the bullet entered Pearsall’s chest and exited through his back, avoiding any vital organs. Harrell was reportedly the first paramedic to arrive on the scene. She used Pearsall’s shirt to apply pressure to the front of the wound and her own baseball cap to apply pressure to the back wound.
Harrell told the Chronicle that he repeatedly told Pearsall to focus on breathing.
“And he listened,” she said. “He calmed down, and that’s what I wanted for him.”
Kornblith is a surgeon specializing in trauma and other acute care conditions at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Trauma Center and an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
The suspect also faces attempted murder charges in connection with the shooting. Police said the suspect was shot in the left arm and was treated at the same hospital. His lawyer said last week that his client was bandaged but recovering well, and this week said video evidence shows the incident was an attempted robbery, not attempted murder.
