Wichita man guilty of battery, acquitted of more serious charge in teen shooting
A Sedgwick County jury on Friday convicted a Wichita man of aggravated battery in a shooting that paralyzed a teenager at the Walmart in Goddard last year.
Ruben Marcus Contreras, 49, was found guilty of the charge following a weeklong trial. The jury also acquitted him of a second, more serious charge of attempted first-degree premeditated murder, court records show.
Authorites have said Contreras shot 18-year-old Anakin Zehring on May 11, 2024, after his 16-year-old daughter told him three teenage boys drove by and shot at her and her boyfriend with gel blasters — toy guns that fire polymer water beads — while they were at the Walmart to get more supplies for a graduation party.
The teenage boys were apparently playing a game popular at Goddard High School called “senior assassins,” where students shoot each other with water guns.
After Contreras’ daughter called him to complain that they had been shot with gel blasters, he drove to the parking lot, ran up to Zehring’s car as it was backing out of a parking spot, pulled out a handgun and fired a single bullet into the back of the driver’s seat through an open window, court records say.
The bullet hit Zehring in his lower back, causing him to lose feeling in his legs and drive into a light pole and storage container. He has since undergone several medical procedures, including surgery.
Contreras claimed he didn’t know the gel blaster was a toy gun and that he was protecting his daughter from teenagers who threatened and harmed her and other strangers, court records say.
His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 20.
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 1:39 PM.
