Woman Who Shot BF for YouTube Stunt Hears Fate

Monalisa Perez pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in June killing
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 20, 2017 11:30 AM CST
Mom Pleads Guilty to Killing Beau in Stunt for YouTube
Monalisa Perez.   (Northwest Regional Corrections Center via AP)

She hoped the stunt would be a viral hit. Instead, it's likely to land Monalisa Perez behind bars. The 20-year-old Minnesota woman has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter after fatally shooting her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz, through a hardcover book the pair believed would stop the bullet on June 26. A plea agreement reached Friday, yet to be approved by a judge, would see Perez spend 180 days behind bars—in 30-day increments per year for the first three years, followed by the possibility of electronic home monitoring—and 10 years on supervised probation, report the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune. The agreement would also prevent Perez from possessing firearms for life and profiting from videos recording the shooting.

"Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE," Perez, who has two young children, tweeted hours before authorities found Ruiz dead outside the couple's home in Halstad. They say a bullet fired from a handgun went through a book and into Ruiz's chest in an accident recorded by two cameras. Perez said she had only agreed to the stunt, meant for YouTube, after Ruiz showed her another book that had stopped a bullet. Perez is to be officially sentenced in February, reports the New York Times, noting she could've faced up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine if she was convicted at trial. Ruiz's relatives, who previously expressed support for Perez, reportedly approve of the agreement. (More manslaughter stories.)

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