As many advantages as social media might have, it comes packed with plenty of disasters. A couple from Minnesota was shooting a video stunt for their YouTube channel which ended up in the death of the boyfriend.
Monalisa Perez, a 19-year-old woman, was charged with the fatal shooting and booked into county jail. The video was being shot as the Pedro Ruiz held a book to his chest and Monalisa took a hit, both thinking the book was enough to stop the bullet. The incident happened in the presence of 30 onlookers and the couple’s 3-year-old child.
Ruiz’s aunt, Claudia Ruiz said that her nephew had informed her about the stunt that they would do because they wanted to get more views for popularity. ” He had told me about the idea, and I said, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Why are you going to use a gun? Why?’. They were in love, they loved each other. It was just a prank gone wrong,” the aunt explained.
The couple had a 3-year-old child, and Monalisa Perez is pregnant with another one. She is charged with second-degree manslaughter and is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
The book protecting Pedro Ruiz was a hardcover encyclopedia, and the shot was taken with a .50-calibre Desert Eagle handgun, according to the County Attorney James Brue. The two cameras recording the incident have been seized by the police.
A lot of neighbors had gathered to watch the video shooting as the woman shot from just one foot away (30 cm), right outside their home in Minnesota. Monalisa has told the police that it was, in fact, the boyfriend’s idea who had to convince her to do it. Prior to shooting the video, she tweeted about it on the same day:
Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever?? HIS idea not MINE?
— Monalisa Perez (@MonalisaPerez5) June 26, 2017
A neighbor Wayne Cameron who watched the incident told media, “Everyone was crying. I was standing behind that tree over there. And that was it. I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I had to go back home.”
The couple’s YouTube channel had started only in March, and they aimed to show “the real life of a young couple who happen to be teen parents.” The last video on their channel was uploaded on the same day as Ruiz’s death with the title, “Doing scary stunts at the fair.”