Pregnant prankster shoots lover dead in YouTube stunt
A PREGNANT YouTube prankster has been charged with manslaughter after accidentally shooting her boyfriend dead while filming their latest online video.
Monalisa Perez and her boyfriend Pedro Ruiz, who she accidentally
Monalisa Perez, 19, claimed her lover Pedro Ruiz wanted to film a video of her shooting a bullet into a book he was holding against his chest.
Mr Ruiz, 22, thought the book would stop the bullet from the handgun fired at point-blank range.
But the couple miscalculated and as Perez opened fire from a foot away the bullet went straight through the book causing devastating injuries to Mr Ruiz.
Authorities in Halstad, Minnesota, confirmed he died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
It is understood the couple’s three-year-old was present when Mr Ruiz was killed on Monday.
Minutes before the fatal stunt Perez wrote on Twitter: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever – HIS idea not MINE.”
An air ambulance was called to the couple’s home but Mr Ruiz was pronounced dead.
The victim’s aunt, Claudia Ruiz, said the couple often carried out pranks and put them on their amateur video channel.
The tweet she posted beforehand
She said: “They loved each other. It was a prank gone wrong. It shouldn’t have happened. He had told me about an idea. I said, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it. Why are you going to use a gun?’ I don’t know why they thought the book was supposed to stop the bullet.”
She said the couple’s unborn child was a boy who will now be named Pedro.
The couple’s YouTube channel, which they describe as “all about craziness”, has about 2,000 subscribers who watch videos of various pranks they have pulled on each other.
They include putting talcum powder on a doughnut disguised as icing sugar, planting the world’s hottest chilli in each other’s sandwiches, as well as videos documenting their days out at the supermarket.
Their most watched video at a fun fair has had about 150,000 views
Their most watched video at a fun fair has had about 150,000 views.
Perez faces second-degree manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm charges, which carry a maximum of 10 years’ jail.