Ricky Pearsall injury: Stanford, UCSF doctors give context to 49ers wide receiver shooting and recovery

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is now recovering out of the hospital after being shot in San Francisco’s Union Square.

In a now-deleted Facebook post Sunday, his mother thanked God, saying that the bullet hit him in the chest and exited through his back, but missed all his vital organs.

Police say the 23-year-old was shot Saturday afternoon after a failed attempted armed robbery by a 17-year-old from Tracy.

ABC7 spoke with doctors at Stanford and UCSF who specialize in these types of injuries.

VIDEO: 49ers’ Ricky Pearsall escorted to ambulance after San Francisco shooting

New video footage shows 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall being escorted to an ambulance moments after being shot in an attempted robbery in Union Square.

Viewer video showed Pearsall being helped into the ambulance Saturday after suffering a gunshot wound to the chest, the area opposite his heart. He was released Sunday according to the 49ers.

“If the bullet actually transects the chest, goes from the front to the back you know the chance of having a very serious injury is very high, and so frankly this football player was very lucky if indeed he was able to be discharged from the hospital you know within 24 hours,” Stanford Professor of Medicine Dr. Dean Winslow said.

Dr. Winslow was deployed to the Middle East six times after 9/11 as a flight surgeon and hospital commander in the Air National Guard.

He is not one of Pearsall’s doctors and has only seen the images ABC7 has seen, but Winslow is very familiar with bullet wounds to the chest.

“And certainly this is the kind of injury that sadly we would see commonly in soldiers, airmen, marines wounded in combat in Afghanistan during my time when I served there,” Dr. Winslow said.

UCSF’s Dr. Jahan Fahimi is the Medical Director of the Emergency Department, and also not one of Pearsall’s doctors but is well-versed in injuries caused by guns.

“In general being shot somewhere in the torso and chest area is a very high-risk injury,” Dr. Fahimi said. “The biggest thing you worry about is an injury to the heart or one of the arteries that comes off of the heart, usually those are instantly fatal or very life-threatening.”

The two doctors add that injuries to the lungs and spine can also be a huge danger with a chest-related shooting. Pearsall’s release though leads both to believe that his injuries are likely not as severe, which could possibly mean a recovery lasting weeks versus many months. Dr. Fahimi even said that a release from the hospital this quickly is rare.

“It’s the minority of patients who can say that they have had that experience, who have been shot in the chest, and say they’ve been able to walk out a day later. I think that’s extremely fortunate,” he said.

Dr. Fahimi also said that he’s always concerned about the psychological impact of this type of act of violence. He recommends treatment for that as well.