Kyle Shanahan addressed reporters Thursday for the first time since rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest five days earlier and added a new detail, suggesting divine intervention was involved in Pearsall surviving largely unscathed.
“I think where he got shot is like two inches below his tattoo with praying hands,” the San Francisco 49ers head coach said. “The whole story is kind of amazing.”
Indeed, about 30 minutes after Shanahan spoke, Pearsall was on the field observing practice, showing no sign that he was shot in a robbery attempt in Union Square less than a week earlier. Pearsall won’t exert himself for about a week before he begins rehabbing, Shanahan said.
Pearsall can’t play in the first four regular-season games because the 49ers have placed him on the non-football list, but general manager John Lynch has said Pearsall will play this season. And that’s possible because the bullet that struck Pearsall hit no vital organs before exiting through his back.
“Talking to people at the ER, (they were) saying out of like 100 people, two people survive that,” Shanahan said. “And to be able to see him the next day. Just that he is able to walk (and) he’s coming to meetings.”
Shanahan said Pearsall didn’t know whether he was going to survive until he reached San Francisco General Hospital. But the first-round pick talked to Shanahan, via FaceTime, from his hospital bed shortly after he was admitted and was “real upbeat.” In fact, Pearsall began lobbying to play in the regular-season opener on Monday night.
“ ‘I still think I could play versus the Jets,’ ” Shanahan said Pearsall told him. “Those are the things he’s talking about and it’s just like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about? There are other things.’ ”
The 49ers placed Pearsall on the NFI list, in part, to ensure he has ample time to deal with any mental trauma. His teammates have been asked to not probe Pearsall for details of his shooting.
“Everyone wants to show him they care, and so what do you do? You go up to someone, you ask them how it happened,” Shanahan said. “It’s a pretty traumatizing story, and I told the team we don’t want to make him relive that 80 times. … Everyone is trying to give him space in that way and just let him work through this process. The physical thing is one thing, but it’s a pretty big mental toll on someone, too.”
Pearsall was shot about two hours before Shanahan hosted his annual team party at his house, an event during which Pearsall spoke with his teammates on FaceTime. Shanahan initially planned to cancel the party before his conversation with Pearsall gave him assurance that he had avoided a significant injury.
Shanahan’s decision was criticized after social-media posts from the party that included Shanahan, rapper Rick Ross and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel began circulating Saturday night. Shanahan was asked whether part of him wanted to join Lynch at the hospital with Pearsall.
“Yeah, obviously, but I’m in charge of our team, too,” Shanahan said. “I don’t do that stuff just so you won’t say something negative about me. I try to make the right decision for the people I’m responsible for. I had a hundred people about to show up to my house. … I try to do things for the right reason. People who know me never question that. But I would never do something just to avoid people saying bad things.”
Eric Branch has covered the 49ers at the San Francisco Chronicle since 2011, when he arrived after covering the team in 2010 at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.