COLUMBUS, Ohio – Congressional candidate and Republican state Sen. Michael Rulli spotted two teenagers he thought were on his Columbiana County property before dawn, grabbed his pistol and fired.
That evening, Hayden Cibula, 16 at the time, returned with three family members to the site of land owned by his uncle to retrieve tree stands and other gear, having determined it was no longer a safe for him to hunt. At that point, Kelly Rulli, the senator’s wife, started shooting.
No one was shot in either incident. But beyond that point, almost all details about what happened between the Rulli and Cibula families on Nov. 28, 2022 are in bitter dispute. Their accounts – detailed in public records and interviews – intractably clash on key details, including where the Rullis aimed their fire, the distance between the shooters and Cibulas, how many shots were fired, and whether anyone was in fact trespassing.
A special prosecutor declined to bring charges against Rulli or his wife, writing in a report that their actions were “reasonable” under the circumstances. He also didn’t recommend charges for Hayden Cibula, who he concluded was trespassing.
Michael Rulli said in statements and an interview he shot at the ground, not at Hayden Cibula, who he accused of trespassing. The law enforcement investigation largely sided with his version of events, records show. And the special prosecutor also concluded that Kelly Rulli shot at the ground and not at the family. No shell casings or bullets were recovered from either incident.
But in interviews, both Hayden and Ashley Cibula remain adamant that the two Rullis fired at them, on both occasions. They denied that they were trespassing, saying they were hundreds of yards away on land owned by Hayden Cibula’s uncle, not 15 yards away as Rulli claimed.
“It was really reckless,” Hayden Cibula said in an interview. “There was no reason to shoot. He could have came down to talk to us. But there was no reason to shoot.”
Rulli won election to the Ohio Senate in 2018. He’s currently running for a congressional seat vacated by Bill Johnson, a Republican who departed to take a job running Youngstown State University. Rulli said in a statement he receives threats against his family’s life “daily” in relation to his political work.
“No one was hurt, and the incident was fully investigated by a special prosecutor from outside of the county, who found there were no grounds to press charges,” he said. “It’s my God-given right to defend my property and family, and I will continue advocating for it.”
Hayden Cibula said he and his girlfriend set out before 5 a.m. to go bow hunting at property owned by his uncle, Joe Kinirons, who allowed him to hunt there regularly. It was early enough they needed flashlights to pierce the dark.
The special counsel report would later claim Hayden Cibula was carrying a shotgun. He denied this but said he had a gun in his truck. ODNR’s investigation makes no note of him carrying a firearm.
Hayden Cibula said he heard yelling he couldn’t make out from a distance around 5:15 a.m. before Rulli fired. According to Hayden Cibula, he was a few hundred yards away from Rulli. But Rulli said in an interview that the teenager was about 15 yards away, a short distance on an 83-acre property. Law enforcement reports don’t specify the estimated distance between the two.
“Mr. Rulli reported that he observed flashlights and heard rustling on his property near a treeline,” the special counsel’s report states. “Mr. Rulli yelled to the individuals but heard no response. Mr. Rulli reports that he returned the dogs to the house and exited his home with a handgun. He continued yelling and fires one shot into the ground.”
Rulli later pointed investigators to locations on his property on satellite images where he said he saw the two hunters, the report states.
Even how many shots were fired is unclear. While the special prosecutors report only details one gunshot from Michael Rulli, the senator said in a statement he was justified in firing “shots.” Hayden Cibula said Rulli fired “a few times.”
However, investigators didn’t recover any physical evidence, such as bullets or shell casings. Hayden Cibula said in an interview Rulli “was really trying to shoot at us.”
Hayden Cibula’s girlfriend, through Hayden, declined an interview request. According to Hayden Cibula, they called his mother who advised them to get out of the situation immediately.
Later that day, an investigator’s report said, Kelly Rulli heard noise outside in the same area where Michael Rulli had seen Hayden Cibula. At this point, Ashley Cibula said in an interview, Kelly Rulli screamed at the family as they collected hunting gear before shooting at least twice. She said they were far enough away they couldn’t even see the Rullis’ house.
“All of a sudden, a gun is fired at us, again. She is screaming, ‘Get off my property,’” Ashley Cibula said. “We were all shot at. Me, my husband, and my two sons.”
Again, law enforcement concluded that Kelly Rulli shot from her porch and fired at the ground, only once, as a warning shot and not an attempt to shoot the Cibulas. Both Ashley and Hayden Cibula disputed that the guns were fired into the ground. If that’s the case, they said, why didn’t ODNR find those bullets?
ODNR officer Jesse Janosik wrote in his report that while the hunting setup was “close” to the property line, all of it appeared to be on the neighboring property, where the Cibulas had permission to be.
Special Prosecutor Jay Macejko said he neither reached nor was he asked to reach a conclusion whether the family was trespassing that night. But he said in an email the hunting site itself, where the Cibulas say they were, “was not on the Rulli property.”
Janosik didn’t respond to phone calls. The ODNR provided its investigatory records in response to a records request. ODNR spokesman Andy Chow said the department typically follows the guidance of prosecutors in deciding whether to file criminal charges.
Columbiana County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino said in an interview he was concerned about the appearance of a conflict of interest with one elected Republican investigating another. So he brought on Macejko.
Macejko’s report, obtained via records request, concludes that there were “variations in the accounts of what occurred” and advised against pursuing charges. But Abruzzino emphasized that the final decision lies with ODNR.
According to the report, the Cibulas’ hunting cameras, which are motion-based, support Rulli’s allegation that Hayden Cibula trespassed during the first shooting and undermines the Cibulas.
Ohio’s trespassing law only allows property owners to respond with “reasonable force.” They can deploy deadly force only if a person is facing “imminent danger.” But this doesn’t matter, according to Macejko’s report, because the Rullis fired into the ground and not at the Cibulas.
“There is simply no credible evidence present at the time of this review that either member of the Rulli family ‘shot at’ anyone,” he wrote.
And he concluded that the Rullis’ actions were “reasonable,” saying they issued verbal warnings and had a “subjective fear” in the moment.
“While one should always be cautious and certain when discharging a firearm, doing so into the ground – even if unwise – is not unlawful harassment or otherwise illegal in this case,” Macejko wrote.
Both Cibulas remain upset from the incidents. Ashley Cibula, when contacted by a reporter, emphasized she has nothing to gain from a feud with local political power.
“We’re just normal citizens who were shot at by someone who thinks they’re above the law,” she said
Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.