A US woman has been sentenced to six months in prison for shooting her boyfriend dead during a botched YouTube stunt. Monalisa Perez, 20, fired a gun at close range at Pedro Ruiz, 22, who believed a thick book would protect him.
The bullet pierced the 1.5-inch book, fatally wounding Ruiz in June 2017. Perez pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. Under the plea deal, she will serve 180 days, alternating 10 days in jail and 10 days out for the first six months, with the remainder under home confinement.
Norman County Attorney James Brue said the stunt was 'dreamed up, planned and executed by Pedro Ruiz', and Perez 'wrongfully and tragically relied on his assurances that the stunt was safe'. The couple had been posting prank videos online in a quest for internet fame.
On the day of the incident, Perez fired a powerful Desert Eagle handgun from a foot away, as Ruiz held an encyclopaedia. Their three-year-old child and nearly 30 onlookers witnessed the fatal shooting. Perez was pregnant with their second child at the time.
