SEDGWICK COUNTY– A 49-year-old Wichita man was sentenced Thursday for the shooting of a teenager in a Goddard parking lot in May 2024.
Judge Seth Rundle sentenced Ruben Contreras to 43 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections. This sentence represents the maximum term of imprisonment allowed under Kansas law for the conviction.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Rundle ordered Contreras to serve 36 months of post-release supervision and required him to register as a violent offender for 15 years.
In November 2025, a Sedgwick County jury found Contreras guilty of one count of aggravated battery. The jury acquitted him of a separate charge of attempted first-degree murder.
The charges stemmed from an incident on May 11, 2024, at Walmart in Goddard, Kansas. Contreras shot 18-year-old Anakin Zehring following an altercation in the parking lot. Zehring was struck by gunfire and left paralyzed.
The case was prosecuted by the Office of the District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District of Kansas.
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SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man is scheduled for sentencing Thursday for shooting a teen in a Walmart parking lot.
In November a jury found 47-year-old Ruben Contreras of Wichita guilty of aggravated battery, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office. He had originally been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
He is scheduled to appear in Judge Seth Rundle's courtroom for the sentencing. In July Contreras plead not guilty to the charges.
Just before 5p.m. May 11, 2024 officers were dispatched to a call involving a weapon at Walmart, 18631 W. Kellogg in Goddard, according to a statement from the Sedgwick County Sheriff's office. First responders located an 18-year-old, later identified as Anakin Zehring, in a vehicle suffering from a gunshot wound, in the Walmart parking lot.
Zehring and some friends were firing a toy gel blaster in the parking lot when they hit a girl, according to a court document. Investigators say she called her father, Contreras, who came to the scene and shot Zehring. EMS transported Zehring to the hospital in serious condition. He continues to recover at a hospital in Nebraska, according to an online fundraiser.
A suspect identified as Contreras, remained on the scene when law enforcement arrived and was taken into custody.
Contreras was transported to Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Investigation to be interviewed. He was later booked into Sedgwick County Detention Facility and later met the condition of a $300-thousand bond and is out of jail, according to online records.