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Seeking YouTube Fame, A Teenager Kills Her Boyfriend (arstechnica.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the misakes-were-made dept.

Last Monday a 19-year-old woman named Monalisa Perez gave the police a strange reason for why her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, was dead. An anonymous reader quotes Ars Technica: A Minnesota woman has been charged with manslaughter after she shot and killed her boyfriend as part of the pair's attempt to become YouTube celebrities... The two had set up two video cameras to capture Perez firing the gun at Ruiz while he held a book in front of his chest. Ruiz apparently convinced Perez that the book would stop the bullet from a foot away. The gun, a Desert Eagle .50 caliber pistol, was not hindered by the book. Ruiz, who was found with a single gunshot in his chest, was pronounced dead at the scene. Hours before the incident, Perez posted on Twitter, "Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE."
The teenager -- who is pregnant with the couple's second child -- now faces second-degree manslaughter charges, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $20,000, or both. A local sheriff told the New York Times, "I really have no idea what they were thinking. I just don't understand the younger generation on trying to get their 15 minutes of fame."

12 of 605 comments (clear)

  1. Doesn't belong here by Stormwatch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Old news, not for nerds, shit that doesn't matter.

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
    1. Re: Doesn't belong here by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

      One would do it - if it was about physics and you read it.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Doesn't belong here by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It'll be interesting to see where the gun comes from and how he got a hold of it.

      By the wrong end?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Simple by qbast · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Stupidity kills.

    1. Re:Simple by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And physical reality is utterly merciless.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  3. And the sheriff doesn't understand? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I just don't understand the younger generation

    19-year-old couple, 3 year old daughter, one in the oven - and you expect responsible behaviour on the internet?

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:And the sheriff doesn't understand? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We shouldn't have to label every gun with "this can kill" and every book with "this will not stop a .50 cal. bullet". This has nothing to do with education, but with common sense and the stupidity that the Internet brings out in people. In a "virtual world", they're astounded that there are real-world consequences?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:And the sheriff doesn't understand? by darthsilun · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anybody who can heft a frying pan, owns death.

      Burroughs

      I dare say if she'd hit him in the book with a frying pan, he'd still be alive to talk about it.

      And how many deaths by frying pans are there every year, in say, England?

  4. Re: I wonder... by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was wondering why they didn't do a test run. Then I figured they only had one book.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  5. Re:Can't do math by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This case is particularly unimpressive; but I suspect that the sheriff isn't thinking hard enough about it. Mortality in the late teens to early 20s related to doing really stupid things to impress your peers isn't exactly something that was invented at the same time as smartphone selfies.

    "Cars and alcohol", "pointless fights", and "things not to do in flooded quarries" are more common variants than "youtube stunts"; but unless the sheriff's social circle is really small, he probably doesn't even have to imagine; odds are pretty good that someone he went to school with, or was otherwise close enough to have heard about, died while taking really stupid risks for attention. It's not that uncommon.

  6. Re: I wonder... by Aighearach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The story about it I read last week said that he did test it on another book and showed it to her to convince her it was safe.

    That's why she's not going to prison. They'll drop charges, or she'll get acquitted. He asked to do the stunt, she said no, and he kept trying until he convinced her it was safe. Stupid? Yes. Manslaughter? No, she only did it after he had convinced her it would be OK.

    The key thing here is that if they had done the stunt successfully, everything is legal. This is no different than a circus accident at the knife-throwing event.

  7. Re: Sure it does.... by Triklyn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... how often do you see PSA's about jumping off bridges with umbrellas to break your fall?

    some things are to stupid it's assumed that the majority of americans won't do it.