Defense attorney questions whether any of victims in drive-by were shot

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

It became clearer Tuesday how the attorney for Ryan N. Rulong plans to attack the state’s case against the Girard man on eight counts of attempted murder and eight counts of felonious assault: question whether any of the three victims suffered gunshot wounds.

On the second day of the trial in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, defense attorney Michael Scala repeatedly cross-examined victims of the May 10 drive-by shooting at the University At Larchmont tavern by quoting from medical records.

Jim Grabosky testified he was one of the dozens of patrons who ducked down when he heard gunshots hitting the tavern. Afterward, he got up and asked, “Is everyone OK?”

That’s when he heard more shots and felt what he thought was a gunshot to his back. “When I was hit, I thought I was done,” Grabosky testified.

But Scala had Grabosky read from medical records that said Grabosky’s back wound was a “superficial laceration” not caused by a gunshot wound.

“Something hit me in the back,” Grabosky countered. “I’ve got a picture if you want to see it.”

Likewise, when Mike Konitsney testified about being struck in the head by “shrapnel or debris” and “shards of glass,” Scala read from Konitsney’s medical report. It mentioned “superficial wounds.”

“You were not actually shot, right?” Scala asked.

“Something hit me,” Konitsney replied.

After Corey Reeder testified to being hit in the back with something as shots flew, Scala read through his medical report. It indicated “no evidence of a gunshot wound.”

Reeder replied the doctor “said I was grazed.” Glass was removed from his eye, he said.

Warren police said three patrons were injured – two by gunfire and a third by glass – but all three were released from the hospital that night.

Scala said in opening statements prosecutors overcharged Rulong, 27, but Chris Becker, assistant county prosecutor, said the eight counts were filed because authorities believe Rulong fired at least eight times into the building and intended to injure people he had argued with at the tavern an hour earlier.

Rulong confessed the shooting the night he was arrested, Becker said. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today.