The man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker when the singer’s two French bulldogs were stolen in Hollywood last February was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Monday after failing to speak out on charges of attempted murder.
At the time of the event, Lady Gaga was traveling around the city of Rome in the Ridley Scott film House of Gucci, so it was a professional dog walker taking care of her pets. When Ryan Fischer, 30, was walking Miss Asia, Gustav and Koji, as the animals are called, around 9:40 p.m. on a Wednesday in February 2021, along Sierra Bonita Avenue in Hollywood, he was attacked by three unidentified men.
The sequence played out in less than a minute: James Howard Jackson and two other men got out of a white car with the intention of grabbing the dogs from the walker. The men struggled with him and threw him to the ground while taking away two of the three dogs he was walking with until a gunshot rang out and Fischer was left lying on the ground, according to video of the incident recorded by a camera security and was obtained exclusively from the news portal TMZ. “Help, I’ve been shot! Help!” the man in the pictures can be heard lying on the ground next to one of the dogs, Miss Asia, who escaped the kidnappers and was rescued. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the man was shot with a semi-automatic pistol and spent several days in critical condition. A month later, Fisher revealed on Instagram that she had suffered a collapsed lung.
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“The plea agreement holds Mr. Jackson responsible for committing a violent and heartless act and will ensure justice for our victim,” the Los Angeles County Attorney’s Office said in announcing the settlement of the case. The other two attackers are in prison for their involvement in the crime.
After the robbery, Lady Gaga offered a $500,000 reward to get her dogs Koji and Gustav back. A woman delivered the dogs to the singer unharmed but has been accused of involvement in the events and receiving stolen dogs. Miss Asia, the singer’s other dog, managed to escape the robbery and returned to Fischer injured and on the ground after the thieves left.
Los Angeles police have claimed the dogs were taken because of their black market value, not because they belonged to the famous singer. French bulldogs are one of the most desirable specimens in the pet market in the United States, which has been hit with a wave of attacks and thefts to get hold of them. Small and playful, they are easy to catch. Curiously, this wave of kidnappings is due to their association with celebrities such as Lady Gaga herself, Reese Witherspoon or Leonardo DiCaprio, who have brought a touch of glamor and prestige to this breed.