Teen left paralyzed from the waist down after water pistol prank turned into real shooting
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: GoFundMe / YouTube/KSN TV
A teenager had suffered life-changing injuries after a water gun game went horribly wrong.
On May 11, 18-year-old Anakin Zehring and his friends were shooting water gel blasters at one another in a Kansas-based Walmart car park.
They were said to be playing something called 'senior assassin' - a water tag game popular in schools where teens post themselves tagging their classmates on social media, according to the New York Post.
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According to court documents, Anakin shot the water gun at another teenager who wasn't part of the game, sparking her to call her father.
Her dad proceeded to come to the car park and reportedly shot at Anakin while he was behind the wheel of a blue Chevy Spark.
Ruben Contreras, 47, has since been named as the person who allegedly shot Anakin and he has been charged with attempted first-degree attempted murder.
His next court date is June 24.
As per the affidavit, the bullet hit Zehring's kidney and liver, KAKE reports.
Anakin's duodenum - upper part of the small intestine - was left punctured and spinal cord damaged, causing a loss of sensation from the waist down.
Surgeons then had to fuse L1, L2, and L3 spinal bones to keep him alive.
As of yesterday (June 6), Anakin has undergone six surgeries.
Anakin's father, Jeremy Zehring, has now spoken out about the horrific day his son was shot.
He thought something was wrong when Anakin wasn't answering his phone.
"I pulled up his locator on his car, and I noticed it was at the Goddard Walmart," Jeremy recalled. "So I started calling him and calling him. It kept going to voicemail."
Jeremy then drove to the Walmart for himself and was met with an alarming scene and learned that Anakin had been shot.
The devastated father continued to tell KAKE: "I tried to rush to the car, but [police] stopped me, they said it was an investigation.
"I was like, well, where's my son? And they're like Anakin. I said yes. Where's my son? And they're like, well, he's been transported to the hospital."
Anakin is currently being cared for at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Omaha.
The high school senior was due to graduate over the course of the ongoing ordeal, sparking his school counselor to plan a graduation ceremony for Anakin in hospital.
"It made my son feel good," Jeremy said of Anakin's response to the heartwarming gesture. "I hadn't seen him smile in weeks until that happened."
Anakin's family are now fundraising to help pay for the teen's medical bills.
They're aiming for a target of $50,000 and, at the time of writing, have raised almost $9,500 on their GoFundMe page.