LOS ANGELES (KABC) – Authorities are searching for the man accused of shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker in Hollywood last year after he was wrongly released from prison, Eyewitness News has learned.
James Howard Jackson, 19, was released from jail on Wednesday afternoon, according to accounting records, which also show the charges against him have been dismissed.
Details of how the charges against Jackson were dismissed and exactly how he was wrongfully released were not immediately available, but police say the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is now looking for him.
Jackson is one of three men charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery in the shooting death of Lady Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischer last year, according to LA County prosecutors.
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Jackson is accused of shooting Fischer.
Fischer was walking Lady Gaga’s three dogs – named Asia, Koji and Gustav – just off the famous Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood last February when he was attacked.
Video from a nearby home’s doorbell camera shows a white sedan pull up and two men jump out. They fought with Fischer and one pulled a gun and fired a single shot before escaping with two of the dogs, Koji and Gustav.
Lady Gaga offered a $500,000 reward — “no questions asked” — for reuniting with the dogs. The singer was in Rome at the time to shoot a film.
The dogs were returned to an LAPD station two days later by a woman who initially appeared “uninvolved and unconnected to the crime,” police initially said. The woman had reported finding the dogs and responded to an email address linked to the reward, police said.
She turned out to be dating the father of one of the suspects, the LAPD later said.
The robbery would make headlines around the world – and motivate French bulldog owners to exercise caution when going for walks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: In a previous version of this story, James Howard Jackson’s age was incorrectly stated as 18. He is 19 years old.
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