Who shot Ricky Pearsall? California’s pro-crime policies hide the truth

Who shot 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall in 2024?

No one knows, because California’s insane criminal justice system has kept the suspect’s identity under wraps.

The NFL season starts this week with Pearsall sidelined for the year due to knee surgery.

Two years ago, before he had played a single game, the receiver was also sidelined –– after being shot in San Francisco in broad daylight. 

Pearsall, the 31st pick in the 2024 NFL draft, was shopping in San Francisco’s Union Square when a thief approached and demanded his watch. 

Ricky Pearsall #14 of the San Francisco 49ers stands on the sideline before a game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Sunday, December 22, 2024. Getty Images

Pearsall would not give it up. In the ensuing struggle, the 49ers’ top draft pick took a bullet in the chest. 

Miraculously enough, the bullet missed vital organs. Pearsall survived the attack in stable condition.

But he missed the preseason and the team’s first six games, returning to the field in Week 7.

Neither Gov. Gavin Newsom nor Attorney General Rob Bonta denounced this case as “gun violence,” usually a favorite talking point of Democratic politicians.

Meanwhile, the suspect himself remained something of a mystery. 

One report described him as a boy of 17, an age that brought labels such as “teen” and “juvenile.” 

Another report claimed “an altercation broke out” between Pearsall and the armed robber, “resulting in both of them suffering injuries.” 

It was as though nobody was at fault. 

The alleged shooter was reportedly a high school student from Tracy, some 70 miles from San Francisco. His name and mug shot were never released, thanks to California’s soft-on-crime policies.

San Francisco District attorney Brooke Jenkins sought to try the armed robber as an adult, with a charge of attempted murder. 

But California’s Prop. 57, passed by state voters in 2016, removed prosecutors’ ability to try juveniles as adults. 

A judge nixed Jenkins’ request last September.

Union Square skyline and city buildings are seen on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, in San Francisco. Getty Images

And that appears to be the last anybody has heard about the armed robber who nearly killed Ricky Pearsall. 

No name, photo, trial or sentence have been made public. 

It is almost as though the crime never happened. 

In San Francisco, and cities across the state, at least some violent criminals can rob and shoot people like Ricky Pearsall with complete anonymity. 

State law protects young would-be killers, like the suspect from Tracy, from notoriety –– and from adult consequences.

In September 2019, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1391, which bars all prosecution of those under 16 in adult court. 

“The opposition of certain crime victims and certain families to this measure is intense,” wrote Brown in his signing message. “I have listened to that opposition carefully and it has weighed on me.”  

The opposition couldn’t have counted for much, because Brown signed the measure. 

Under this law, anyone under age 16 could rob and murder the entire San Francisco 49ers team, be tried only in juvenile court, serve time in a juvenile prison, and gain release at age 25. 

As for the alleged shooter of Pearsall, who knows? 

How can Californians determine whether any measure of justice is being done, when the court proceedings are shielded from public view?

In football, the game does not proceed until a penalty has been marked off. 

In California, that is not the case –– and if people see that as systemic injustice, it’s hard to blame them. 

Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow with the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif.

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