Woman charged with Manslaughter after stun went very wrong

[MatParker116]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40438207

A Minnesota woman has been charged over the fatal shooting of her boyfriend, in what authorities say was a social media stunt gone wrong.
Monalisa Perez, 19, was booked into county jail after shooting at Pedro Ruiz as he held a book to his chest, believing it would stop the bullet.
The couple's three-year-old child and nearly 30 onlookers watched as she fired the fatal bullet into his chest.

County Attorney James Brue described the book as a hardcover encyclopaedia, and said the weapon used was a .50-calibre Desert Eagle handgun.
Police have seized two cameras, which are said to have recorded Monday's incident.
The single gunshot was fired from about one foot (30cm) away as neighbours gathered to watch outside their Minnesota home.
She told deputies that the stunt had been Ruiz's idea, and that he had to convince her to do it.

I don't know what to say, a child is scared for life and another will be born in prison all for the dumbest fucking idea I have ever heard.

 

[Saelune]

From what is known so far, I dont think she should go to jail. I'd imagine all the other consequences of the failed stunt will be more than sufficient punishment. Loss of a partner, child likely messed up, etc.

 

[Parasondox]

The couple wanted to be YouTube famous and wanted to push the limits for views and likes and subscribers.

Those who live in or brought up in a social media world needs to understand what the limits are and how to never cross them for online approval. We all need to learn from this.

 

[happyninja42]

From what is known so far, I dont think she should go to jail. I'd imagine all the other consequences of the failed stunt will be more than sufficient punishment. Loss of a partner, child likely messed up, etc.

Reckless Endangerment of a minor (shooting a gun near one); Discharging a firearm in a residential area (most places have laws against that, depending on where they were simply standing, she might've broken a law); Involuntary Manslaughter (acknowledges the accidental, but doesn't mean you get off without punishment), Firing the gun without a license (not sure if she's licensed or not, given it was the guy's idea, I'm guessing he was the gun owner, so she might not even be legal to shoot it.

There are a myriad of laws that she likely broke, regardless of if she intended to kill him or not.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Spoiler: If only the book had been half as thick as the dude holding it.

Don't blame me, blame television.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

Spoiler: If only the book had been half as thick as the dude holding it.

Don't blame me, blame television.

hahhahahhhdjdfkdfskljdf

Also I don't know anything about guns so I googled 50 caliber desert eagle and I'm pretty sure only tiny people like them, so they look huge in their hands.

 

[Saelune]

From what is known so far, I dont think she should go to jail. I'd imagine all the other consequences of the failed stunt will be more than sufficient punishment. Loss of a partner, child likely messed up, etc.

Reckless Endangerment of a minor (shooting a gun near one); Discharging a firearm in a residential area (most places have laws against that, depending on where they were simply standing, she might've broken a law); Involuntary Manslaughter (acknowledges the accidental, but doesn't mean you get off without punishment), Firing the gun without a license (not sure if she's licensed or not, given it was the guy's idea, I'm guessing he was the gun owner, so she might not even be legal to shoot it.

There are a myriad of laws that she likely broke, regardless of if she intended to kill him or not.

I still dont think putting her in jail will serve any positive purpose.

 

[Marik2]

Shouldn't this be in religion politics?

From what is known so far, I dont think she should go to jail. I'd imagine all the other consequences of the failed stunt will be more than sufficient punishment. Loss of a partner, child likely messed up, etc.

Reckless Endangerment of a minor (shooting a gun near one); Discharging a firearm in a residential area (most places have laws against that, depending on where they were simply standing, she might've broken a law); Involuntary Manslaughter (acknowledges the accidental, but doesn't mean you get off without punishment), Firing the gun without a license (not sure if she's licensed or not, given it was the guy's idea, I'm guessing he was the gun owner, so she might not even be legal to shoot it.

There are a myriad of laws that she likely broke, regardless of if she intended to kill him or not.

I still dont think putting her in jail will serve any positive purpose.

Agreed

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Just so people are aware: A .50 Action Express round (what that model of Desert Eagle fires) carries about four times as much energy as a typical 9mm round, and is considered a suitable round for self-defense against bears. Mr. Ruiz would likely have had to be holding an encyclopedia thicker than the length of a loaf of bread to have had a hope of surviving.

I wish people would stop treating firearms like big, loud toys and respect them as the deadly tools they are.

 

[Basement Cat]

A .50 caliber pistol?!?!?!? These two clearly had no clue how powerful such a pistol is!

What really, really, really gets me is that they didn't even test the strength of the firearm first: Take the goddamned pistol and point it at a book taped to a tree or something--anything but trying it out on another person first!!!

I was first taught the dangers and proper handling of firearms when I was 6 or 7 years old (back in a different time when that was common) and even as a child I knew better than these two adults did. The sheer stupidity displayed here is beyond disgusting--it's horrifying!

I still dont think putting her in jail will serve any positive purpose.

Despite my feelings towards their horrific, lethal irresponsibility I concur with you.

 

[lacktheknack]

.50 calibur pistol vs. book.

Do... do these people not have YouTube...?

Like, first result was this...

<youtube=G7-9FlQ9OU4 start=151>

Yeah, it's not a pistol, but it's .50 calibur and was fired from much further away, and still went through an unnerving number of phonebooks.

 

[Dragonlayer]

Jesus, what a pointlessly, utterly, utterly fucking stupid way to die....

The couple wanted to be YouTube famous and wanted to push the limits for views and likes and subscribers.

Those who live in or brought up in a social media world needs to understand what the limits are and how to never cross them for online approval. We all need to learn from this.

I sincerely hope that we as a species haven't reached the point where people will need to learn from the deaths of others, in order to not create videos entitled: "AMAAZINK!!! WATCH ME SHOOT MY LITTLE BROTHER WITH FLAMETHROWER- DEVO HAT FULLY PROTECTS HIM!!! LIKE COMMENT SUBSCRIBE!!!"

 

[shrekfan246]

So is this the ultimate "Hold my beer..." moment?

 

[Gennadios]

"...described the book as a hardcover encyclopaedia, and said the weapon used was a .50-calibre Desert Eagle handgun..."

It's a goddamn .50 Cal. Even if the encyclopedia DID stop the bullet, the impact would have pushed the book back with enough force to crush the dude's ribcage and the soft things inside.

I don't think any charges need to be pressed. Either the guy was using his idiot wife as a suicide proxy, or they were both that stupid. No harm no foul.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

From what is known so far, I dont think she should go to jail.

I was about to disagree with you and go on a long rambling rant, but then I realized that my rant would kind of be invalidated by the fact that her boyfriend consented to the stunt and was just as much of an idiot as she was (if not moreso if what she says is true and it was his idea in the first place.

Anyway, she probably shouldn't get any jail time, or at least should only get jail time for endangerment and illegal discharge of a weapon, not for murder or manslaughter. She should DEFINITELY have her child taken away though. She is not responsible enough to care for another human.

 

[Saelune]

From what is known so far, I dont think she should go to jail.

I was about to disagree with you and go on a long rambling rant, but then I realized that my rant would kind of be invalidated by the fact that her boyfriend consented to the stunt and was just as much of an idiot as she was (if not moreso if what she says is true and it was his idea in the first place.

Anyway, she probably shouldn't get any jail time, or at least should only get jail time for endangerment and illegal discharge of a weapon, not for murder or manslaughter. She should DEFINITELY have her child taken away though. She is not responsible enough to care for another human.

Ultimately, I think any legal punishment should be on the basis of how it effected her kid(s). The guy essentially consented to his own death, so I think it is unfair to punish her for murder, even manslaughter. Manslaughter is for accidentally killing people who DONT ask to have a gun fired at them.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

.50 calibur pistol vs. book.

Do... do these people not have YouTube...?

Like, first result was this...

<youtube=G7-9FlQ9OU4 start=151>

Yeah, it's not a pistol, but it's .50 calibur and was fired from much further away, and still went through an unnerving number of phonebooks.

There's a HUGE difference between .50 AE (50 cal pistol round) and .50 BMG (50 cal rifle round)

Spoiler

In terms of power and penetration they are nowhere near comparable.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

From what is known so far, I dont think she should go to jail.

I was about to disagree with you and go on a long rambling rant, but then I realized that my rant would kind of be invalidated by the fact that her boyfriend consented to the stunt and was just as much of an idiot as she was (if not moreso if what she says is true and it was his idea in the first place.

Anyway, she probably shouldn't get any jail time, or at least should only get jail time for endangerment and illegal discharge of a weapon, not for murder or manslaughter. She should DEFINITELY have her child taken away though. She is not responsible enough to care for another human.

Ultimately, I think any legal punishment should be on the basis of how it effected her kid(s). The guy essentially consented to his own death, so I think it is unfair to punish her for murder, even manslaughter. Manslaughter is for accidentally killing people who DONT ask to have a gun fired at them.

I believe we're in agreement on that.

 

[Basement Cat]

The story's been reported on CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/29/us/fatal-youtube-stunt/index.html

New facts: The guy involved had test fired the pistol against a similar book without the bullet going through. The story doesn't say if he did it at a 1 foot distance, though.

The lady was definitely against trying this stunt.

As for her current status:

Perez faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to $20,000 if she is convicted of the manslaughter charge against her. She has been released on bail, and as a condition of her release she cannot possess firearms, needs to notify her attorney of her whereabouts and has to wear a GPS monitor, according to court documents. She will be back in court on July 5.

Given that she's free on bail I suspect the court is going to be quite lenient with this 7 months pregnant young lady. I hope so, anyway.