49ers ‘happy’ as Pearsall returns to watch practice

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Just five days after he was shot in the chest in downtown San Francisco, San Francisco 49ers receiver Ricky Pearsall was already back watching his team practice on Thursday.

As the Niners opened their official work week leading to Monday night’s showdown against the New York Jets, Pearsall strolled out to the field a few minutes into Thursday’s session. Wearing a dark 49ers T-shirt, gray sweatpants a pair of cleats, Pearsall tossed a football to himself as he watched his fellow receivers go through individual drills.

It was Pearsall’s first public appearance since he was shot by a 17-year-old male suspect while shopping for luggage near San Francisco’s Union Square.

About an hour before Pearsall’s practice field appearance, coach Kyle Shanahan recounted an emotional Saturday.

“It was really tough,” Shanahan said. “We just knew that he got shot. And that was all we knew. And then it took us about an hour to figure out what the hospital was and things like that, because we just made a couple calls to people, so we had it from them. But none of us knew where he was or anything.”

Roughly 40 minutes after the initial call, Shanahan got another one saying that Pearsall was conscious, talking and going to survive but that was confirmed fully when Pearsall called Shanahan via FaceTime.

“That was like the first time I knew he was all right,” Shanahan said. “It was really amazing. Because that hour when you hear about a shooting, we didn’t know where it was or anything, so you just assume the worst. Then to hear it was in the chest, you don’t think that usually goes that well. Then actually to talk to him like 15 minutes after that, and just talk to a guy that seems like he’s okay.”

Shanahan also revealed that Pearsall was shot “about 2 inches” below a tattoo of praying hands that adorns the right side of Pearsall’s chest. Shanahan said in follow-up discussions with emergency responders and medical personnel, he was told that out of about 100 people who are shot in the same area, only two survive.

During the FaceTime call with Shanahan, Pearsall told his coach ‘I still think I could play against the Jets’ and assured Shanahan it was OK to go forward with the team’s planned Saturday night start of the season party.

Shanahan then arranged for a large screen TV and speakers to be set up so Pearsall could FaceTime the entire team.

“Thank God that he’s even alive with us today,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “That was an insane situation. So happy that he’s back here around the building with us.”

Indeed, Pearsall was able to get back to the 49ers in short order. Less than 24 hours after the shooting, Pearsall was released from the hospital early Sunday afternoon. He was back at the team facility talking to teammates in the weight room and participating in meetings on Monday and Tuesday and then took in practice on Thursday.

For now, Pearsall is on the reserve/non-football injury list, which means he must miss at least four weeks. But Shanahan indicated Pearsall will rest the next few days and is expected to begin rehab and progress toward a return next week. Pearsall will be around the team as normal in the meantime.

As for the mental and emotional side of Pearsall’s recovery, Shanahan said he emphasized to the team not to make Pearsall “relive that 80 times” and the mental side will be of the utmost importance in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday, general manager John Lynch said Pearsall is expected to play this season, a message Shanahan echoed on Thursday.

“He’s as tough a person I know, just going through a situation like that,” Shanahan said. “We always felt this way watching him on the football field and things like that. But kind of to watch how he handled that situation and watch how he’s been every day since; it shows how special of a guy he is.”

In other 49ers news, running back Christian McCaffrey was a limited participant in practice on Thursday with what the Niners are calling a calf and Achilles injury. The Achilles portion of that had not previously been disclosed, but Shanahan said it was not a new injury and it’s related to the calf issue that kept McCaffrey out for most of the preseason and training camp.

McCaffrey was participating seemingly at full speed during the roughly 30-minute practice window open to media on Thursday.