The San Francisco district attorney has charged a 17-year-old with five offenses for allegedly shooting the San Francisco 49ers player Ricky Pearsall on 31 August during a robbery attempt in the city’s shopping district.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Brooke Jenkins, the district attorney, announced that an unnamed suspect was facing three felonies: attempted murder, attempted robbery and assault with a semi-automatic firearm. He faces two enhancements for intentional discharge of a firearm and personal use of firearm. He has not been publicly identified.
The teen is from Tracy, a city about 60 miles (about 96km) east of San Francisco and is being held in a juvenile facility in the city and is not being charged as an adult, though Jenkins said that her office was reviewing the case to see if they will request a fitness hearing that will determine whether or not his case can be transferred to adult court.
As the teen is currently charged in juvenile court, Jenkins did not identify him and gave few details on the teen’s potential criminal history or which direction she is leaning toward in regards to transferring the case to the adult system. She said that she notified Pearsall and his family of the charging decision through their representatives.
“We got enough to file these charges, but it is premature for me to opine on that right now,” Jenkins told reporters in response to a question about whether or not she will try to get the case transferred out of juvenile court.
The high-profile incident comes amid a competitive mayor’s race in which candidates have emphasized public safety, and after numerous efforts by the city’s leaders working to change the perception of safety in the hopes of reviving tourism and conventions.
I’m grateful to hear that Ricky Pearsall has been released from the hospital. My thoughts are with him and his family, and I wish him a swift recovery.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) September 2, 2024
Today, I visited Union Square to thank our @SFPD officers for their dedication to keeping our city safe every day. Thanks to… pic.twitter.com/53rS7W6ZMj
In the US, teenagers are more likely to be shot by an adult than a peer, however the increase in homicides in recent years has reignited fears about young people committing crimes like robberies and shootings. And while the share of juveniles arrested for violent crimes in the US increased from 8.7% in 2021 to 9.9% in 2022, people under 18 remain responsible for less than 10% of the non-fatal violent crimes in the US, according to an April analysis of crime data by the US Department of Justice.
