San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall’s rookie season started out with a scary incident as he was shot in an attempted robbery while shopping.
Pearsall missed a few games but managed to play 11 games and catch 31 passes for 400 yards. He scored three touchdowns as well. The 49ers player said Monday as he cleared out his locker room that he wanted to meet with the teen suspect who was accused of shooting him.
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"I don't know how he grew up, so I can't judge him as a man just based off one action that he made," he said, via KNBR. "As violent as a crime as it was, God forbid him doing that to somebody else. I don't ever want that to happen.
"For me, just being able to forgive him at the end of the day like, I have to be able to forgive him to have that weight off my chest. At some point I do want to talk to the kid and make sure that, if I can create an impact on him in any way I think that would be really big. I think I'd be definitely open to doing that, for sure."
A 17-year-old high school senior was charged with attempted murder in the Pearsall shooting and was arraigned back in September. He also faces assault with a semiautomatic weapon and attempted second-degree robbery charges on top of other gun-related charges.
The teen’s attorney, Bob Dunlap, said at the time his client was sorry for what occurred.
"He’s genuinely very sorry that this did happen, as is his family, and I can say on their behalf, as well as on my own behalf, our thoughts go out to the Pearsall family and Mr. Pearsall himself. So there is genuine, genuine remorse in that regard," Dunlap said. "He is a young boy."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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