Aspiring YouTube star shoots boyfriend to death while filming ‘prank’ in front of their 3-year-old daughter: Report
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The victim convinced his girlfriend a book would stop the bullet, according to family members.

A pregnant teenage girl shot and killed her boyfriend of five years while recording a video for the couple’s YouTube channel.

According to WDAY 6, Monalisa Perez was arrested Monday night and charged with reckless discharge of a firearm after she accidentally killed her boyfriend, 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III.

YouTube Screenshot/Pedro Ruiz

Perez reportedly told police that the couple, who already have a three-year-old child together and frequently posted videos of stunts and pranks to their YouTube channel, was making a video to see if a book Ruiz was holding in front of his chest would stop a bullet.

It did not.

Before the fatal shooting, Perez posted a message on her Twitter account, warning that she and her boyfriend were about to record a dangerous video, and insisted that it wasn’t her idea.

According to Buzzfeed, Perez told police that Ruiz had shown her a different book that had stopped a bullet, but that was not the book they used in the prank.

Relatives of the couple told WDAY 6 they believe Monalisa and Pedro’s three-year-old daughter, who frequently appeared in the YouTube videos, witnessed the tragedy.

Monalisa is currently pregnant with the couple’s second child. She reportedly called 911 immediately after the shooting and told the dispatcher she had accidentally shot her boyfriend in the chest.

Paramedics performed chest compressions, but could not save him, and Ruiz died at the scene, as Monalisa screamed and horrified neighbors gathered around the home in disbelief.

Pedro’s aunt, Claudia Ruiz, told the news station she believed the couple was simply intending to create a popular video.

“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,” Ruiz told WDAY 6.

 

 

Feature Photo: YouTube Screenshot