49ers player shot during attempted robbery
WARNING – BRILLIANT VIDEOS – Fox News' Christina Coleman and former D.C. Homicide Detective Ted Williams discuss the shooting death of San Francisco 49ers player Ricky Pearsall during an attempted robbery.
San Francisco 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall is recovering from a gunshot wound just months after being selected by the team in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Pearsall's shooting happened during an attempted robbery in San Francisco's Union Square on Saturday, raising concerns about violent crime levels in a city that continues to struggle with homelessness and has one of the highest homeless population densities per capita in the nation.
The city has also been dealing with a serious opioid crisis over the past year, and held a candlelight vigil on Sunday to remember the more than 1,100 residents who have died of drug overdoses since January 2023.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has acknowledged that the Pearsall shooting could affect her criminal record as she seeks reelection in 2024.
“I am glad the victim is safe, but this incident represents a setback for the efforts we have made to make significant changes to public safety in San Francisco,” Mayor Breed told reporters at a weekend press conference.
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San Francisco 49ers player Ricky Pearsall (number 14) during training camp at the SAP Performance Facility on July 31, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Breed, a Democrat who was born in San Francisco, did her undergraduate studies at UC Davis and earned an MPA from the University of San Francisco, has served as governor since 2018. She has been heavily criticized for the massive budget cuts that are set to be made to the San Francisco Police Department and Sheriff's Department over the next two years, which were implemented in the aftermath of the riots that broke out after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin.
San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs Association statement Last November, he denounced Mayor Breed's decision, arguing it had serious implications for public safety in the city.
“Mayor Breed's support of the national movement to reduce the police budget in 2020 marked a major turning point for law enforcement in San Francisco. While the Mayor has since attempted to portray herself as a supporter of public safety, her decisions to impose a hiring freeze on deputy and police officers in 2022 and reallocate $120 million from law enforcement to the African-American community in 2021 demonstrate a consistent trend of budget cuts and reallocations that call into question the city's ability to maintain law and order,” the statement read.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in October that Breed had never approved a request to increase the police department's hiring budget. Scott said the city has had the same hiring budget since 2007.
49ers player Ricky Peirsol released from hospital after being shot during robbery attempt
Prior to being elected Mayor in 2018, Breed was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing the 5th District in 2013 and served as Chairman of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2015.
Breed's main challenger in the city's next mayoral election is fellow Democrat, former San Francisco interim mayor and former city supervisor Mark Farrell, who ran on a platform of public safety and criticized Breed in a statement on X shortly after news of Pearsall's shooting broke.
“Enough is enough,” Farrell wrote on X. “If we want public safety in San Francisco we need change at City Hall.”
Homeless people struggle with a fentanyl problem in San Francisco, California, USA, February 26, 2024. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency)
Farrell, also a San Francisco native, is a former Air Force pilot who attended Catholic and Christian schools through high school and college.
Farrell served as the city's acting mayor from January 2018, following the death of former Mayor Ed Lee, until Breed took office in July of that year.
Farrell previously authored an $11 billion city budget that included funding for the hiring of 250 new police officers. He also allocated more than $7 million to criminal justice reform measures, including a pilot program for pretrial diversion. He also increased the amount of funding the city provides to homeless outreach services, such as the Homeless Navigation Center and Homeward Bound, which places homeless people with loved ones to live with them.
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks during a “Winter of Love” ceremony at San Francisco City Hall, California, on February 14, 2024. Mayor Breed renewed the marriage vows of two same-sex couples during a ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of San Francisco's first same-sex marriage. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Pearsall, 23, was released from San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center on Sunday. San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch announced Tuesday that Pearsall returned to the team facility on Monday. The 49ers placed Pearsall on the non-football injured list to give him time to recover from the shooting and a shoulder injury that limited him all summer, Lynch said.
The condition of the 17-year-old suspect, who was also taken to the hospital, has not been released. Police say the young male suspect is a resident of Tracy, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of San Francisco. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has not yet charged him, and it is not yet clear whether she will ask a judge to move the juvenile case from juvenile court to adult court.
The teenage suspect was shot in the arm and arrested about a block away from where he allegedly confronted Pearsall. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the suspect was barefoot after his slip-on sandal came off during the struggle with Pearsall.
Data released by the San Francisco Police Department in July showed that the city's crime rate dropped significantly in the first half of 2024. But it's unclear whether the trend will continue.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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