Say What Now? High School Prank Ended In Actual Shooting, Teen Possibly Paralyzed

A group of teenage boys were playing “Senior Assassin” when they allegedly shot the suspect’s daughter with a gel blaster. The girl’s father confronted them and fired into their vehicle, hitting one boy who soon realized he couldn’t feel his legs.

A Wichita man in his late 40s has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, accused of driving to the Goddard Walmart and using a handgun to shoot a teen he thought had shot his daughter with a gel blaster, according to a court document released Wednesday. The 18-year-old who Ruben Marcus Contreras is accused of shooting has been hospitalized since the May 11 shooting and could be paralyzed, according to the probable cause arrest affidavit and the victim’s family.

“Whatever happened, whatever controversy … regardless of any situation, my son didn’t deserve what happened to him,” said Jeremy Zehring, the father of Anakin R. Zehring. “This will change his life forever. And it’s going to change my life forever and my family’s.” Anakin R. Zehring couldn’t feel his legs after being shot in the lower back, which caused him to drive into a light pole and storage container according to the affidavit and Jeremy Zehring. Zehring said his son has undergone four surgeries since the shooting.

He was taken to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis then flown to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals in Omaha. He was recently taken from there to a children’s hospital after having additional complications. “He’s not doing well,” Jeremy Zehring said Tuesday. “If he will be able to walk again or control his bowels, we have no clue. It’s a terrible situation.”

Here’s what witnesses told police happened that day at Walmart, according to the affidavit: During a graduation party at Contreras’ household, his daughter went to Walmart with her boyfriend for more supplies. The party was for her older brother. As they were walking up, a car with three teenage boys drove by and someone said “I’m your senior assassin” and shot them with gel blasters. Senior assassin is a game students at Goddard High School play where they shoot each other with water guns, she told a police detective. A gel blaster is “a toy gun which fires polymer water beads,” the affidavit said.

The boyfriend said the three male teens in the car also tried to fight him. A couple of those teens told a detective they also shot at a Walmart employee and other people in the parking lot. Anakin Zehring said a friend did the shooting; the friend said Zehring did.

The boys went into Walmart but left after being confronted by a manager. Meanwhile, the girl called her father to tell him they had been shot with gel blasters. The boys left Anakin Zehring’s car in the Walmart parking lot, walked to the nearby Dairy Queen and then came back.

Contreras had arrived. His daughter pointed to the boys getting into the vehicle. Surveillance video showed Contreras driving through the parking lot and toward the Chevrolet Spark at 4:55 p.m. as Zehring is backing out of a parking spot. Contreras runs up to the “driver’s side of the Spark and appears to try and open a door.”

“The Spark continues southbound through the parking lot a short distance where the Spark started to slow down,” a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office detective wrote in the affidavit. “(Contreras) runs back up to the driver’s side of the Spark and appears to pull out a firearm from the right side of his waistband. (Contreras) has the firearm in his right hand and sticks his right hand into the open window of the driver’s side back seat area. It is at this point (Contreras) fires one round into the vehicle.” Contreras had with him a 9 mm Smith and Wesson handgun. There was a single bullet hole in the back of the driver’s seat.

“Zehring stated he observed an older male near the Spark and thought the older male was just walking through the parking lot,” a detective wrote in the affidavit. “Zehring says he started to come to a stop due to the pedestrian crossing area. Zehring said his ears starting ringing and realized he had been shot. Zehring says he turned to the west and realized he couldn’t feel his legs. Zehring stated he hit a pole in the parking lot to get the Spark to stop because he didn’t want to hit anyone in the roadway.” Contreras posted bond a few days after the shooting. ROAD TO RECOVERY Anakin Zehring missed his chance to walk across the stage at Haysville High School, but school district officials brought him his diploma and held a ceremony for him while he was in a hospital bed at St. Francis, Jeremy Zehring said.

Jeremy Zehring said his son’s plan after graduation was to work with him at his electrical business. A GoFundMe has been set up to help with medical bills and related costs. “Currently, he is experiencing a loss of sensation in his lower extremities, and while the prognosis remains uncertain, we are holding onto hope for his recovery,” the fundraiser says. “The financial burden of this journey is immense. Medical expenses are mounting rapidly, and we are bracing for future costs related to his ongoing care and rehabilitation.”

via: The Wichita Eagle

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