Monday night (June 26) 19-year-old Monalisa Perez, a small YouTube vlogger, fatally shot her boyfriend, 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, during a stunt for their channel at their home in Halstad, Minnesota. According to family members Monalisa was pregnant with their child, and their 3-year-old daughter was present for the devastating event.
Inspired by popular prank channels, Monalisa and Pedro’s stunts had been escalating to garner attention. The last video uploaded is title “DOING SCARY STUNTS AT THE FAIR PART 1.”
Monday night’s horrifying incident was the result of their attempt to record a book stopping a bullet on camera. Perez told police she’d agreed to go through with the video idea after Ruiz showed her a book that he’d shoot where the bullet never made it out the other side.
The couple mounted two cameras, one on their car and one on a ladder. Ruiz put the book in front of his chest and Perez fired at gold Desert Eagle .50-caliber handgun from about a foot away. Monalisa Perez gave police both cameras as evidence. She’s currently in police custody and was schedule to appear in court today (June 28) for a manslaughter charged.
“I wish they wouldn’t have done it. I wish he would’ve just done another prank,” Pedro Ruiz’ aunt Claudia Ruiz said to local news station WDAY-TV. “They were in love. It was just a prank gone wrong. It shouldn’t have happened like this. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”
Another aunt, Lisa Primeau, who said she raised Pedro Ruiz since his mother died when he was 9, commented to the Star Tribune. “We called him our little daredevil,” she said, adding that Perez was always “putting a dangerous twist on everything he did.” She said he would do things like “jump into the swimming pool from the top of the house, no hesitation. He was a crazy driver with go-carts.”
Right before the deadly “prank,” Monalisa tweeted an ominous message.
Top image credit: YouTube
Mug shot: Norman County Sheriff’s Office
