The pistol used in a horrific YouTube stunt gone wrong that resulted in the death of a 22-year-old man Monday is one of the most powerful handguns on the market.
Cops say 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz held a book to his chest and persuaded his girlfriend, Monalisa Perez, to fire a gun at him from a foot away.
Ruiz thought the book would stop the bullet. Instead, it went straight through, killing him.
The gun was a .50-caliber Desert Eagle, the power of which was notoriously showcased in the Brad Pitt film Snatch.
Inside Edition went to Guns for Hire, a gun range in Midland Park, N.J., to reveal the sheer power of the weapon in question.
During the demonstration, two bullets ravaged a massive dictionary, emerging right out of the other side of the book.
The firearm is regarded as the most powerful handgun money can buy.
Cops say Ruiz and his 19-year-old girlfriend staged the stunt at their Minnesota home to lure more viewers to their YouTube channel.
They spoke about the channel in a video posted the same day he was killed.
“Imagine when we have 300,000 subscribers,” she said in a video.
She also expressed her doubts about participating in the stunt.
Three hours before the tragedy, she tweeted: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. His idea not mine.”
The tweet included two “worried face” emojis.
She is seven-months pregnant with the couple’s second child and faces up to 10 years in prison on a charge of second-degree manslaughter.
