Click here to listen to the 911 call. (WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE). 

ELYRIA — Former Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Jonathan Rosenbaum had no feeling below his waist Sunday, a day after he was shot in the back by his 23-year-old son, said sheriff’s Capt. Richard Resendez.

But doctors at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where Rosenbaum was upgraded Sunday to serious condition, don’t know yet whether the paralysis is permanent, Resendez said.

Rosenbaum was shooting clay pigeons Sunday with his son at the Sportsmen Gun & Reel Club on Middle Ridge Road in Amherst Township when he was shot in the upper-middle right area of his back, Resendez said.

His son, Aaron Rosenbaum, told deputies that he was trying to clear a jammed shell in the semiautomatic 12-gauge shotgun he was using when the gun went off.

“He was trying to clear that shell, and in the process of trying to do that, his gun discharged and struck his dad in the back,” Resendez said.

Aaron Rosenbaum had just stepped back from the firing line at the one-shot station where he and his father were shooting, and the elder Rosenbaum was on the firing line when he was hit, Resendez said.

Rosenbaum told deputies when he was interviewed Sunday that he initially didn’t realize he had been shot when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, Resendez said. He then collapsed on the ground.

Two people called 911. One caller, a woman, told the 911 dispatcher that a father had been accidentally shot by his son.

A hysterical Aaron Rosenbaum also called to report the shooting.

“I need an ambulance. I just shot my father in the back. I’m very sorry,” the younger Rosenbaum frantically tells the dispatcher.

Aaron Rosenbaum can be heard on a tape of the 911 call repeatedly apologizing to his father, who tells his son not to say anything to anyone about the shooting.

The conversation is muffled, but Aaron Rosenbaum can be heard telling his father that he was angry before the shooting and then Jonathan Rosenbaum asks his son whether the shooting was intentional.

“You (expletive) shot me on purpose?” the former prosecutor demands to know.

“No, I did not,” Aaron Rosenbaum responds. “I’m sorry.”

“You liar,” Jonathan Rosenbaum then said, to which his son replied, “I did not shoot you on purpose.”

The 911 dispatch center then loses the call and calls Aaron Rosenbaum back. He then tells the dispatcher to hurry and that his father doesn’t want him talking to her.

Distraught, Aaron Rosenbaum continues to apologize to his father and says he’ll never shoot again. He can also be heard telling his father what happened.

“The shell was jammed in the gun, and I was trying to get it out, and it just went off,” Aaron Rosenbaum can be heard saying.

Resendez said Jonathan Rosenbaum told deputies Sunday that he doesn’t recall accusing his son of shooting him deliberately.

“Jon is adamant that this is an accident,” Resendez said.

Resendez said the investigation is still ongoing, but Aaron Rosenbaum could face negligence charges in the shooting after the case is reviewed by prosecutors from Oberlin Municipal Court.

Jonathan Rosenbaum is an avid shooter, Resendez said, who loads his own shells — including the No. 9 buckshot shell he was shot with — and went to the gun club about three times every week.

Aaron Rosenbaum, who Resendez said has had medical issues in the past, often accompanied his father to the club.

“This boy, Aaron, idolized his father,” Resendez said.

But on Saturday, Aaron Rosenbaum was not using the over-under shotgun he typically used because the stock was being refinished, Resendez said. Instead, he had borrowed the semiautomatic shotgun from his father.

Resendez said he expects the investigation to be completed this week.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

 

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