Pregnant teen kills boyfriend in silly gun stunt
A 19-year-old woman in Minnesota has been charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend as the couple attempted to record a YouTube stunt, authorities said.
Monalisa Perez was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting of her boyfriend, 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, on Monday night.
According to a local paper, Star Tribune, Perez called 911 on Monday evening to report that she accidentally shot Ruiz in the chest while they were making a YouTube video at the couple’s house in Norman County.
Authorities found Ruiz with a single gunshot wound to his chest and attempted to save his life, but he died at the scene.
Perez, who is pregnant, told police that Ruiz wanted to make a YouTube video of her shooting a book while he was holding it, as he believed that the book would stop the bullet, according to the criminal complaint.
GUNS
Ruiz held up the book — described by County Attorney James Brue as a hardcover encyclopedia — and Perez pulled the trigger on a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol, trying to see whether the bullet would go through, according to the criminal complaint.
Police said Ruiz was always chasing a thrill, “putting a dangerous twist on everything he did.” His antics included “jumping into the swimming pool from the top of the house.”
An aunt to the deceased said Ruiz also “had plenty of guns. He liked guns.”
Perez had a YouTube channel full of stunts and pranks by the couple. The most recent one went up the morning before the shooting.
Ruiz and Perez had been together for six years, and they have a 3-year-old child. In May, Perez posted a video revealing the sex of the child they are expecting in late September.