Woman pleads guilty to boyfriend’s death in YouTube stunt
HALSTAD, MINN. » A Minnesota woman has pleaded guilty to fatally shooting her boyfriend in a videotaped stunt they planned to post on YouTube.
Monalisa Perez, 20, pleaded guilty last week to second-degree manslaughter in the June death of 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, The Star Tribune reported. Perez has two young children with Ruiz.
Perez told investigators that Ruiz wanted to make a video of her shooting a bullet into a hardcover encyclopedia he was holding against his chest, according to court records. Perez said she fired a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol from about a foot away. Two cameras recorded the incident, though investigators have withheld the footage. Ruiz died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
The couple had a YouTube channel where they posted videos of pranks and stunts. Hours before the shooting, Perez tweeted: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE.”
Ruiz’s aunt, Lisa Primeau, said her nephew was always chasing a thrill and “putting a dangerous twist on everything he did.” She said that included jumping into a swimming pool from the top of a house.
Perez will be sentenced in February. Her plea agreement calls for her to serve six months in jail and 10 years of supervised probation. She’d be prohibited from profiting off the video and would be barred for life from having a gun, according to court documents.