MEGA
A Kansas teenager, Anakin Zehring, was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by a fellow teen’s father during a game of “senior assassin,” according to law enforcement documents released this week.
Ruben Marcus Contreras, in his late 40s, was arrested and charged with attempted murder for the May 11 shooting in a Walmart parking lot in Goddard. Sedgwick County deputies reported that Contreras shot 18-year-old Zehring after Zehring and his friends had used a gel blaster—a toy gun that fires water-based beads—on Contreras’ daughter. This information was detailed in an affidavit obtained by HuffPost on Wednesday.
“Senior Assassin” is a game widely played by high school seniors across the country, where students are assigned “targets” to “eliminate” using water guns or balloons until only one player remains. While many teens view it as a rite of passage, school officials and law enforcement have increasingly warned against the game due to the potential for serious incidents. Just last month, a 16-year-old in Pennsylvania collapsed and died after a chase related to the game, told KSN.
On the evening of May 11, Zehring and two friends drove his blue Chevrolet Spark to a local Walmart. As they passed Contreras’ daughter and her boyfriend, one of the boys in Zehring’s car shouted, “I’m your senior assassin,” and fired the gel blaster at her.
Contreras’ daughter’s boyfriend told deputies that neither he nor the daughter recognized the boys and approached them. One of the boys allegedly insulted the boyfriend and challenged him to meet them out back. The couple then called Contreras, informing him that they had been shot with gel blasters and that the boys were allegedly trying to assault the boyfriend.
A short time later, Contreras arrived at the Walmart parking lot. According to a Walmart employee, Contreras approached Zehring’s car “in an angry manner.” He then allegedly pulled out a black handgun and fired a shot through the car’s back window, hitting Zehring in the back. As Zehring lost feeling in his legs, the car crashed into a shipping container.
A bystander rushed to aid Zehring as he screamed that he couldn’t move his legs. Contreras told the bystander multiple times, “They shot my daughter.” The bystander used his own shirt to control Zehring’s bleeding and prayed for him until paramedics arrived.
Anakin’s father, Jeremy Zehring, confirmed the bystander’s actions to HuffPost. Jeremy and his wife discovered the incident through a Facebook post and checked their son’s car GPS, locating it at the Walmart.
“So then I started calling and it was going straight to voicemail, and I started panicking so then I look at my wife, and say, ‘We have to go,’” Jeremy recounted. “I saw his car, fully wrecked, and they told me he had been transported to the hospital. And I was just like, what? What’s going on? And I just broke down.”
Anakin sustained severe injuries, including a bullet wound to his small intestine and spinal cord damage, causing paralysis from the waist down. He has undergone multiple surgeries and remains hospitalized. The Zehring family shared their ordeal on a GoFundMe page, noting the emotional and physical toll on Anakin as he contemplates his future and potential inability to work with his father in their electrical business. “It’s a devastating situation,” Jeremy said. “I know he wished he could change back things.”
