SAN FRANCISCO — The broad daylight shooting that killed San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Ricky Pearsall in an upscale shopping district has once again put the city in the spotlight just weeks before a new mayor is elected.

Mayor London Breed, who is running for re-election, has taken a more aggressive approach to outdoor drug dealing and clearing homeless camps off the city’s streets in an effort to convince voters that the situation has improved under her watch, but she acknowledged that the “horrific and rare” attack during the attempted robbery of Pearsall could erode her achievements.

“We’re glad the victim is going to be OK. But this incident takes us away from all the hard work we’ve done to make significant changes to public safety in San Francisco,” Breed said at a news conference over the holiday weekend.

Crime is down in San Francisco, where property crimes are more common than violent crimes like murder, rape, robbery and assault. Breed emphasized that, but said, “The data sometimes flies out the window when something like this happens.”

Pearsall, 23, was walking alone to his car shortly after 3:30 p.m. Saturday after shopping at luxury stores in Union Square when the teen suspect spotted the NFL player “because of his expensive watch,” San Francisco Police Sergeant Frank Harrell told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pearsall was spotted earlier Saturday wearing a Rolex Datejust watch, which is expected to sell for about $12,000, two watch experts said.

Police said a scuffle ensued, during which shots from the 17-year-old suspect’s gun hit both Pearsall and the teenager, who was shot in the arm.

The 49ers rookie was shot in the chest at close range, officials said. His mother, Erin Pearsall, posted on social media that the bullet entered the right side of her son’s chest and exited his back without hitting any vital organs.

The teen was charged Tuesday with attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic weapon and attempted second-degree robbery, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said.

State law prohibits Jenkins from charging a minor as an adult. But she said if her investigation shows the teen suspect should be tried in adult court, she would ask a judge to rule on transferring the case, Jenkins said. She added that it was too early for her to make that decision.

“When people commit crimes, and they are certainly serious crimes of this nature, there will be accountability, regardless of the status of the victim,” Jenkins said.

Breed, a centrist Democrat, is fighting a tough reelection battle this year and faces three serious opponents who say her administration has failed to address drug crimes, vandalism and theft. At the request of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, California National Guard lawyers and caseworkers have been working on fentanyl cases in San Francisco over the past year, with the goal of dismantling them.

Breed’s primary candidate, Mark Farrell, a former interim mayor of San Francisco and a former city supervisor, took to social media shortly after the attack on Pearsall to criticize Breed. Farrell is running a campaign focused on public safety — one of the top concerns of San Francisco voters — and says he would clear all large tent camps and beef up police staff.

“Enough is enough,” Farrell wrote on social media platform X. “If we want public safety in San Francisco, we need changes at City Hall.”

Other critics have highlighted the case on social media, saying it shows that people need to be careful about what they wear when walking around town. In Los Angeles, police have warned people wearing expensive jewelry that they could be targeted by thieves after a long series of brazen thefts and robberies of people wearing expensive watches or jewelry in the Los Angeles area.

The reaction to Pearsall’s attack echoed the reaction to the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee last year, whose fatal stabbing shocked the tech industry. Lee’s death further inflamed the debate over public safety in San Francisco, with top tech entrepreneurs posting about the killing on social media.

Nima Momeni, a technical consultant who knew Lee, has been charged with murder and is awaiting trial.

Pearsall was released Sunday from San Francisco General Hospital and Traumatology Center. He returned to the team’s facility Monday, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said Tuesday. The Niners placed Pearsall on the non-football injury list, giving him time to recover from the shooting and shoulder injuries that limited him all summer, Lynch said.

The condition of the suspect, who was taken to the same hospital, was not disclosed. The young male suspect is a resident of Tracy, a city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of San Francisco, police said.

He was arrested about a block from where he allegedly confronted Pearsall.

Lynch thanked San Francisco Sergeant Joelle Harrell, who is married to Sergeant Frank Harrell and was the first officer on the scene after she heard the shots and ran to the scene. She told reporters she immediately gave Pearsall medical aid and calmed him down.

She used Pearsall’s shirt to apply pressure to the chest wound and her baseball cap to press on the exit wound in his back. After Pearsall asked her if he was going to die, she told him to stay calm.

Joelle Harrell, a devout Catholic, told him no, it wasn’t his time and began to pray.

“You’re strong,” Chronicle told him, which she kept telling him. “Just focus on your breathing.”

“And he listened,” Harrell said. “He calmed down, which is what I wanted him to do.”

Union Square, located along the route of one of the city’s iconic cable cars, is known for its luxury shops, fine and casual restaurants, and numerous hotels. The downtown district has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many storefronts emptying out.

After a series of robberies involving people smashing shop windows and glass counters to steal luxury goods, more officers were deployed to the hospital grounds, making national headlines.

After many challenges, the shopping district has seen a renaissance and was bustling with tourists and local families this summer, said Marisa Rodriguez, CEO of Union Square Alliance.

She added that the neighborhood is one of the safest in San Francisco and said the increased police presence allowed officers to respond quickly to help Pearsall and arrest the suspect.

“San Francisco is not being treated fairly,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately, there are robberies happening all over the world, probably every minute, but they don’t make headlines because it’s not election season.”