A Roanoke man who shot someone in the face following a child’s birthday party last summer has drawn a four-year prison sentence for the incident.

Sean Kirby Rosser pleaded guilty to malicious wounding and to using a gun in the commission of that crime Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court. He’ll serve one year on the wounding charge and three years for the firearm offense, a mandatory minimum.

Rosser, 20, also received four years in suspended time in the case.

The victim, Robert Matthew Addison , 34, was shot the night of July 14, outside his home in the 1400 block of Rorer Avenue Southwest, in Hurt Park, police have said.

Cheyenne Ingram , the mother of Rosser’s child, is a relative of Addison’s wife, and she lived with the couple, according to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua Dietz . Rosser went to Addison’s home with Ingram that night after attending a birthday party for their 2-year-old child.

Dietz said Robert Addison and Rosser already had tension between them that night, and he said tempers flared after Addison took some party items from Rosser, including the cake, and dropped them on the ground.

As they bickered, Rosser drew a gun and fired two shots — one which passed harmlessly between Addison and Ingram, and another which struck Addison just under his right eye.

The bullet passed through Addison’s orbital cavity, and exited near his right ear, the prosecutor said. Although shot through the head, he remained conscious and was able to run away.

“Addison had surgery and has since basically made a full recovery,” Dietz said Wednesday. “No gun was ever recovered, no bullet, but it was clearly a small caliber bullet of some type.”

Rosser was arrested not long after the incident in the 2500 block of Liberty Road Northwest. His child had already been taken inside the home by the time the shooting occurred, Dietz said.

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