Kansas teen paralyzed after girl’s dad shoots him over controversial ‘Senior Assassin’ trend in Walmart parking lot

Anakin Zehring was shot in a Walmart parking lot in Kansas on May 11, 2024.

A high school senior, Anakin Zehring, 18, was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by a furious father in a Walmart parking lot in Goddard, Kansas. The incident occurred on May 11 when Zehring and two other males conducted a drive-by shooting with toy gel blasters, targeting two teens, according to the Wichita Eagle.

The two victims, a girl and her boyfriend, were walking towards the Walmart when they were shot at multiple times with water-filled polymer beads. A passenger in Zehring's car shouted, “I am your senior assassin,” referring to a controversial game called “Senior Assassin.” This game, popular among high school seniors, involves tagging "targets" with water guns, water balloons, or gel blasters off school grounds, often recording and posting the encounters on social media.

Ruben Marcus Contreras was charged with attempted first-degree murder in the May 11 shooting.

The teens, frightened by the incident, rushed inside the Walmart. The girl then called her father, Ruben Marcus Contreras, to report the attack. Her boyfriend, named only as “GB” in the police affidavit, confronted the teens but was met with hostility.

When Contreras arrived at Walmart, his daughter pointed out the teens, who were getting back into their car, a Chevy Spark. Contreras confronted Zehring, attempting to open the driver’s side door. According to the affidavit, Contreras then pulled out a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun and fired one round into the vehicle, hitting Zehring.

Contreras' scared daughter heard a "loud pop" before watching the blue spark drive away and crash into shipping containers.

Zehring told police he thought Contreras was a pedestrian and had stopped for the crosswalk. Realizing he had been shot, Zehring lost sensation in his legs and crashed the car into shipping containers to stop it.

The bullet caused severe injuries, puncturing Zehring's duodenum and damaging his spinal cord, resulting in paralysis from the waist down. His parents detailed on a GoFundMe page that the injury necessitated the fusion of his L1, L2, and L3 spinal bones.

In the affidavit, Zehring told police that he thought Contreras was just a pedestrian walking through the parking lot and only came to a stop for the crosswalk.

Initially hospitalized in critical condition, Zehring was later transferred to Madonna Rehabilitation Facility in Omaha, Nebraska. Contreras was arrested on May 15 and charged with attempted first-degree murder. He was booked at the Sedgwick County Detention Facility on $300,000 bail and is currently out on bond.

The teen boys, who parked their car, had attempted to go inside the Walmart, but a manager kicked them out of the store and they instead walked over to the nearby Dairy Queen.