US News
Published June 7, 2024 at 2:06 am ET
A high school senior was paralyzed from the waist down when an angry father shot him in a Walmart parking lot after the teen fired a toy gun at the man’s daughter as part of a controversial trend.
Anakin Zehring, 18, was in a car with two other men outside a Walmart in Goddard, Kansas, on May 11 when they saw two teenagers walking toward the building and fired from a vehicle with gel guns, according to the Wichita Eagle.
A passenger inside the car shouted “I’m your main killer” as the two teens, a girl and her boyfriend, were shot multiple times with water-filled polymer beads.
“Senior Assassin” is an elaborate game of tag, in which participating high school seniors are assigned a “target” and are usually asked to record “tagging” their victims and post it online. social outside of school.
Anakin Zehring was shot in the parking lot of a Walmart in Kansas on May 11, 2024. KSN TV/YouTube
Most games consist of players using water guns, water balloons, or a gel launcher, as seen in the case of Zehring.
Several police departments warned parents earlier this year that the nationwide game could have deadly consequences.
The couple claimed they were shot with several rounds of beads before running inside to escape the gunfire, according to KWCH.
Once inside, the girl called her father, Rubén Marcos Contreras, to tell him that they were shot with the gel blasters and that they did not know who the teenagers were.
The girl’s boyfriend, named only as “GB” in the police affidavit of the incident, confronted the teens and found one of them using a slur and “later told her to meet him in the back of the Walmart,” the outlet reported.
Ruben Marcus Contreras was charged with attempted first-degree murder in the May 11 shooting. KSN TV/YouTube
The teens, who parked their car, attempted to enter the Walmart, but were kicked out and walked to a nearby Dairy Queen.
When Contreras arrived at the store, his daughter pointed to the teens, who were returning to their car, a Chevy Spark.
The furious father drove across the parking lot, while Zehring backed up and confronted the teen, attempting to open the driver’s side door.
Contreras’ frightened daughter heard a “loud bang” before seeing the blue spark fly away and crash into the shipping containers. KSN TV/YouTube
Contreras’ daughter, identified as “SC,” said she saw her father walking toward the car and lowered her head “for fear of what could happen to her father.”
The frightened daughter heard a “loud bang” before seeing the blue spark fly away and crash into the shipping containers.
“(Contreras) runs back to the driver’s side of the Spark and appears to pull a firearm from the right side of his waistband,” a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office detective wrote in the affidavit, obtained by the Wichita Eagle.
“(Contreras) has the firearm in his right hand and puts his right hand through the open window of the driver’s side rear seat area. It is at that moment that (Contreras) fires a bullet at the vehicle.”
Contreras was armed with a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol.
In the affidavit, Zehring told police he thought Contreras was just a pedestrian walking through the parking lot and that he only stopped in the crosswalk.
“Zehring said his ears started ringing and he realized he had been shot. Zehring says he turned west and realized he couldn’t feel his legs,” a detective wrote. “Zehring said he crashed into a pole in the parking lot to stop the Spark because he didn’t want to hit anyone on the road.”
The Goddard High School graduate also told police that he was not the one who fired the gel, a claim that was contradicted when one of the passengers told authorities that Zehring was the shooter.
In the affidavit, Zehring told police he thought Contreras was just a pedestrian walking through the parking lot and that he only stopped in the crosswalk. KSN TV/YouTube
The single gunshot left Zehring with serious injuries, as it “perforated his duodenum (upper part of the small intestine) and damaged his spinal cord, causing loss of sensation from the waist down,” his parents wrote on GoFundMe.
“The bullet caused significant damage to his body, requiring the fusion of his L1, L2 and L3 spinal bones,” Kenly Zehring and Jeremy Zehring added.
The teen was initially hospitalized at St. Francis in Wichita in critical condition before being transferred to Madonna Rehabilitation Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
The single shot left Zehring with serious injuries, as it “pierced his duodenum (upper part of the small intestine) and damaged his spinal cord, causing loss of sensation from the waist down.” KSN TV/YouTube The teens, who parked their car, tried to enter the Walmart, but a manager kicked them out of the store and they instead walked to the nearby Dairy Queen. Firm
Contreras was arrested on May 15 and charged with attempted first-degree murder, according to KSN.
He was booked into the Sedgwick County Detention Center on a $300,000 bond and is currently free on bond.
https://nypost.com/2024/06/07/us-news/kansas-teen-anakin-zehring-left-paralyzed-after-girls-dad-shoots-him-over-senior-assassin-trend-in- parking-walmart/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
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