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Minnesota woman seeking YouTube fame fatally shoots boyfriend in stunt gone wrong

Mary Bowerman
USA TODAY
This photo released by the Northwest Regional Corrections Center shows Monalisa Perez. Perez, of Halstad, was charged Wednesday, June 28, 2017, with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Pedro Ruiz III. According to a criminal complaint, the 19-year-old Perez told authorities Ruiz wanted to make a YouTube video of her shooting a bullet into a book he was holding against his chest. She says she fired from about a foot away.

A Minnesota woman was charged with second-degree manslaughter after she shot and killed her boyfriend during a YouTube prank gone wrong, according to local reports. 

Monalisa Perez, 19, was charged Wednesday in the shooting death of her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, 22. According to a criminal complaint, Perez said Ruiz wanted to make a prank YouTube video of her shooting at a book he was holding in front of his chest, AP reported. 

On Monday evening, Perez tweeted that the couple had agreed to carry out "one of the most dangerous videos ever." 

 "Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. His idea, not mine," @MonalisaPerez5 said in the tweet. 

Unfortunately, the prank went very wrong, and the bullet went through the book and into Ruiz's chest, killing him before he could be air-lifted for medical treatment, WDAY-TV reported. 

Perez told authorities that Ruiz thought the prank would work because he'd shot a different book and the bullet did not go all the way through. 

The couple often made prank videos and posted them on YouTube under the name La MonaLisa. In one of the videos, Perez tries to prank Ruiz with a sandwich filled with hot peppers, and in another, the couple detail their stay at a haunted hotel. 

The couple have a three-year-old child together, and another on the way. 

According to AP, Perez could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. 

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