Story Archive

Let’s Go Viral

Monalisa Perez, 19, posted a tweet: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE.” The idea: Pedro Ruiz III, 22, wanted to shoot a YouTube video to test whether a book held against his chest would stop a .50-caliber bullet from a Desert Eagle pistol, advertised as “one of the world’s most powerful semiautomatic handguns.” Short answer: no. The bullet — which Perez fired from a foot away — went through a hardcover encyclopedia and into Ruiz’s chest, killing him. Perez, who is pregnant with their second child, was charged with second-degree manslaughter. “He had told me about that idea,” says Ruiz’s aunt, Lisa Primeau. “I said, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Why are you going to use a gun? Why?’” Ruiz replied, she says, “Because we want more viewers. We want to get famous.” The videos, shot from two different angles, will not be publicly released. (MS/Minneapolis Star Tribune) ...Famous, yes; viewers, not so many.