Wichita man admits to accidentally killing his cousin in shooting while drinking beer

A Wichita man has been convicted of killing his cousin in an accidental shooting last summer when he was passing around guns while drinking alcohol.

Martin David Ruiz Jr. pleaded guilty Monday in Sedgwick County District Court to involuntary manslaughter in the June 30, 2018, shooting death of 24-year-old Anthony E. Martinez.

Ruiz’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 11.

An affidavit written by a Wichita Police Department detective and filed in court details the investigation.

Police were called at around 12:35 a.m. that day to Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph for a report of a shooting. Martinez told officers that he had been shot by Ruiz, his cousin, as they passed around guns. Martinez died about eight hours later at St. Francis hospital.

The shooting happened at a home in the 2200 block of South Main.

Witnesses told police that several people were drinking beer in the backyard when Ruiz pulled a handgun out of a bag of guns. He took out the gun’s magazine and racked back the slide on the pistol before giving it to Martinez.

Ruiz then grabbed a second weapon from the bag and removed the magazine. But the gun went off when Ruiz pulled back the slide, witnesses said.

An autopsy classified his death as a homicide. The coroner wrote that one bullet went through the right arm and likely re-entered the body on the right side of the torso, traveled through the abdomen and became lodged on the left side of the pelvis.

This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 7:21 PM.