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Pregnant Teen Fatally Shoots Boyfriend In YouTube Stunt

HALSTAD, Minn. (CBS NEWS) - A Minnesota woman charged in the fatal shooting of her boyfriend told authorities it was a video stunt gone wrong.

Monalisa Perez was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Pedro Ruiz III. The family told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune the couple has a young child and that Perez is pregnant with their second.

According to a criminal complaint, Perez, 19, told authorities Ruiz wanted to make a YouTube video of her shooting a bullet into a book – described as a hardcover encyclopedia – he was holding against his chest. She says she fired from about a foot away.

Authorities say Ruiz died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The shooting reportedly happened in front of the couple's 3-year-old daughter.

The victim's aunt, Claudia Ruiz, told CBS affiliate Valley News Live that the couple played pranks and put them on YouTube.

"They were in love, they loved each other," she said. "It's just a prank gone wrong. It shouldn't have happened like this. It shouldn't have happened at all."

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