Some people will go to extraordinary lengths for a taste of fame, but this deeply unsettling tale ranks amongst the most disturbing in recent memory.

Video bloggers Monalisa Perez and Pedro Ruiz made it their mission to capture every moment of their life on camera. The young pair, both in their early 20s, broadcast their relationship online, hoping to cultivate a dedicated following.

Their ambition was simple – expand their YouTube viewership and pursue internet celebrity. From family days out with their three-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, to challenging each other with progressively dangerous stunts, everything was recorded.

Even the gender announcement of their second child – a baby boy – was posted for their subscribers.

In June 2017, they published a video entitled ‘Doing scary stunts at the fair. Part 1’, reports <a href=”https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/pregnant-girlfriend-shot-boyfriend-dead-36544905″ rel=”Follow” target=”_self”>the Mirror</a>.

The clip depicted the pair attending a local funfair, where Pedro was recognised by admirers. Monalisa quipped to the camera “imagine when we get 300,000 subscribers.”

Pedro responded “I’ll be throwing parties.”

The couple resided in Halstad, a modest town in Minnesota, and had been in a relationship for five years. Pedro was employed as a railway engineer, whilst Monalisa remained at home looking after their daughter.

Their YouTube channel description invited viewers into “the real life of a young couple who happen to be teen parents,” pledging authenticity, ups and downs and lots of entertainment.

After sharing their fairground video, Monalisa subsequently tweeted: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous stunts ever. HIS idea not MINE.”

Within half an hour, they started setting up two cameras in their garden.

Pedro had shared the plan with his aunt, who was appalled and pleaded with him not to proceed.

When she questioned why he would gamble with his life, he responded simply, “because we want the viewers. We want to be famous.”

That evening, one camera was positioned on a ladder, the other on a car. Approximately 30 people congregated nearby, including their young daughter.

Pedro stood with a 1.5-inch-thick hardback encyclopaedia against his chest. Monalisa, seven months pregnant, stood just a foot away, clutching a .50 calibre Desert Eagle handgun.

Pedro was convinced the book would halt the bullet as he had trialled a similar one previously.

However, when Monalisa fired the gun, the bullet pierced straight through the pages and into Pedro’s chest, causing him to collapse immediately.

An air ambulance swiftly arrived at the scene, but despite attempts to save him, Pedro succumbed to his injuries there.

Monalisa was arrested and initially faced charges for reckless discharge of a firearm – but later was accused of second-degree manslaughter.

While awaiting trial, Monalisa gave birth to a son. In December 2017, she pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, with prosecutors attributing “culpable negligence” to a death that was entirely preventable.

Her defence team argued that Pedro had masterminded the stunt and consistently assured her it was safe.

Monalisa received a six-month intermittent jail sentence over three years, allowing her to look after her children.

She was also banned from owning firearms, put on supervised probation for 10 years, and forbidden from making any profit from the video or the incident.

Pedro’s aunt Claudia Ruiz told WDAY-TV: “I wish they wouldn’t have done it. I wish he would’ve just done another prank. They were in love. It was just a prank gone wrong. It shouldn’t have happened like this. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”