Ricky Pearsall shooting: Arizona boy learns he has his old number, receives 'get well soon' texts
PHOENIX - Former ASU Sun Devil and San Francisco 49er Ricky Pearsall was shot over the weekend in San Francisco and is recovering, but all the texts wishing him well might not have made it to him.
His old phone number was recently activated in Phoenix by a mother who just got her son his first cell phone. Ever since the shooting, his phone has been getting notifications nonstop.
"I have Ricky Pearsall's old phone number," said 12-year-old Lincoln Schreck on Sept. 2.
It all started after his phone was activated with a new number about two months ago.
"When I first got the first weird message, I just shrugged it off as nothing," he said.
But, the dots started connecting.
"They were like, you know, hope he had a good time at camp. We didn't put together. The camp was probably training camp for the NFL. We thought it was some kid going to summer camp," his mom, Lindsay Schreck, said.
It wasn't until Saturday, Aug. 31, when his iPhone was inundated with "get better soon" text messages.
He says he got messages from all over the country – "from anywhere and everywhere."
"Just trying to get their message to whatever they thought this was, Ricky's number, and to tell him that they hope that he gets better and that they know it's a tragic time. They are just praying for him," Lincoln said.
They counted at least 100 messages meant for Ricky within the last three days.
It wasn't until he had texted someone saying "wrong number" that he figured out whose old phone number he actually had.
"It was an NFL player's former number and that he just got shot, and you're probably getting a lot of random texts," Lincoln said about a text exchange.
After responding to each text became too much, he thought the better thing to do was to get his story out there.
"I want Ricky to know that the world loves him apparently because everybody, it's just, 'I'm praying for you,' ‘We love you, man,’ ‘Just hope you get better,’ and we all do hope that," Lincoln said.
His mom says, "You couldn't get a more interesting first cell phone experience, I don't think."
Lincoln also hopes Ricky sees this story and can let people know his phone number has changed so he doesn't miss an important call.
Of course, the family wishes the former Sun Devil a quick recovery.
More on the shooting
Pearsall, 23, was shot and wounded in an attempted robbery in Union Square on Aug. 31 in the middle of the afternoon in a highly populated area, the San Francisco Police Department said.
The suspect, a 17-year-old, was arrested and was also injured in the 3:30 p.m. shooting. Police said that the suspect did not target Pearsall because he was a football player.
The 49ers released a statement, saying that Pearsall was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon.
"He and his family, along with the entire San Francisco 49ers organization, would like to thank the San Francisco Police Department, emergency medical services, doctors and staff at San Francisco General Hospital," the team wrote.