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posted by n1 on Monday July 03 2017, @01:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the here-is-your-5-minutes-of-fame dept.

A Minnesota woman has been charged with manslaughter after she shot and killed her boyfriend as part of the pair’s attempt to become YouTube celebrities.

According to court documents, Monalisa Perez called 911 on June 26 at around 6:30pm local time to say that she had shot Pedro Ruiz III. The two had set up two video cameras to capture Perez firing the gun at Ruiz while he held a book in front of his chest. Ruiz apparently convinced Perez that the book would stop the bullet from a foot away. The gun, a Desert Eagle .50 caliber pistol, was not hindered by the book.

[...] A video filmed the day before the shooting features Perez excitedly imagining what would happen when the couple reached 300,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel.

According to a Star Tribune report citing a nearby television station in North Dakota, the shooting took place near the couple's home as their three-year-old daughter was nearby. An aunt of Ruiz, who was not named by WDAY-TV, was quoted as saying that she knew what they planned to do and that she tried to talk them out of it.

The aunt said Ruiz replied, "'Because we want more viewers. We want to get famous.'"

Perez, 19, was released on bail on Wednesday. She is pregnant with the couple's second child.

Further details from The New York Times:

Ms. Perez told investigators that she had shot Mr. Ruiz from about a foot away while he held a 1.5-inch thick book to his chest, the authorities said. She described using a firearm that matched the pistol that was found at the scene.

Mr. Ruiz had been “trying to get her” to fire the gun “for a while,” Ms. Perez told investigators, according to court documents. They state that he had set up one camera on the back of a vehicle and another on a ladder to capture the stunt.

To help persuade her to pull the trigger, Mr. Ruiz had even shown Ms. Perez a book that he had previously shot himself, she told investigators. In that case, she said, the bullet had not gone all the way through the text.

See also: CNN.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 03 2017, @06:20PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 03 2017, @06:20PM (#534523)

    I think the parents are idiots and I feel sorry for them.
    But I am very worried about the three year old who witnessed this.
    At three, she can already process enough of this to really be messed up for life.
    I'm confident even trained professionals (like the police, not assassins) would be traumatized to have witnessed this in person, I have no idea if the kid can get over it.

    it reminds me of that thing a few years ago, when a two year old killed his mother with her gun.
    at least at two, you can hope that the mind simply won't form proper memories about it, i.e. won't attach the proper meaning.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:55AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:55AM (#534998)

    The overwhelming odds are that the child will not remember this. Too young.