A pregnant teenager has been charged in the fatal shooting of her boyfriend in what she says was a social media stunt gone wrong.
Monalisa Perez, of Halstad, Minnesota, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Pedro Ruiz III.
According to official documents, Perez told authorities Ruiz, 22, wanted to make a YouTube video of her shooting a bullet into a book he was holding against his chest.
The 19-year-old claims she fired from about a foot (0.3 meters) away, as the couple’s three-year-old child and nearly 30 onlookers watched. Ruiz died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
The victim’s aunt, Claudia Ruiz, told WDAY-TV that the couple played pranks and published them on YouTube.
She said her nephew told her he wanted to do the stunt “because we want more viewers, we want to get famous.”
She said she had tried to dissuade him from using a gun in the stunt, adding: “They were in love, they loved each other. It was just a prank gone wrong.”
Perez tweeted ahead of the tragedy: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE.”
Perez, who is pregnant with Ruiz’s baby, was granted a public defender and released on $7,000 bail.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.