With the popular rise of YouTube, the social media outlet has given normal everyday people the ability to become stars. An ever growing number of them gaining fame, some albeit by paying dangerous consequences.
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The boyfriend of an aspiring 19-year-old YouTube star is dead after being shot after an attempted stunt went horribly wrong, according to a report on NBC News. Sheriff Jeremy Thornton of Norman (Minnesota) County, said in a released that Monalisa Perez was arrested after allegedly shooting her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III.
Court documents state Ruiz was shot with a gold Desert Eagle .50 caliber pistol, which is considered by many to be the one of the most powerful handguns in the world. The incident took place behind their house, where Ruiz was apparently trying to stop a bullet by holding up an encyclopedia.
According to NBC News, the two had set up multiple cameras to capture the stunt. Authorities say Perez shot the book Ruiz was holding, only for the bullet to travel through the book and into his chest. Ruiz had practiced shooting books numerous times prior and had shown them to Perez to convince her they wouldn’t penetrate them, according to the NBC report.
Ruiz took the shot to the chest from Perez at a distance of about one foot away, according to the report. Perez is now in jail and faces a charge of second-degree manslaughter, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison according to court documents.
The two kicked off their La Monalisa YouTube channel in May and had been posting videos prior to the shooting. According to local officials the video of the shooting will not be released.
This post was originally published on July 3, 2017.