A 19-year-old accused of shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker to steal her French bulldogs last year has been recaptured after being mistakenly released, authorities in Los Angeles have said.
The news that James Howard Jackson, had been taken into custody once more came Wednesday as another of the three men charged in the robbery was sentenced to four years in prison.
The gang shot Ryan Fischer as he exercised the three prize pets in Hollywood in February 2021. Fischer sustained chest injuries in the attack, and said on Instagram a month later he had suffered a collapsed lung.
Jackson, suspected of pulling the trigger, had been mistakenly released from custody earlier this year after what the US Marshals Service described as a “clerical error.”
They had offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to his arrest, saying that he should be considered “armed and dangerous.”
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office said he was finally “apprehended without incident” in the city of Palmdale. They did not give further details, and it was not clear if the reward was being collected.
Also on Wednesday, a California court sentenced Jaylin Keyshawn White, who had admitted to being part of the gang, to four years in prison.
At a court hearing in Los Angeles on Wednesday, White, now 20, pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery, and received a four-year prison sentence.
White had been charged in April 2021 along with Jackson and Lafayette Shon Whaley, now 28.
Surveillance footage from the scene of the attack shows a car stopping near Fischer and two people jumping out.
One demands that Fischer “give it up” before a struggle, in which a gunshot is heard, and the dog walker falls to the ground, screaming.
The attackers each grab one dog — Koji and Gustav — and leave Fischer shouting for help.
The third dog — Miss Asia — ran back to the walker after the robbers drove away.
The robbery led the “Poker face” singer to offer a $500,000 reward for the return of the animals, whose theft highlighted a growing trend targeting the valuable breed.
The woman who police said handed in the dogs in response to the reward, has been charged with being an accessory after the fact and with receiving stolen goods.
Los Angeles police said at the time they did not believe the dogs were targeted because of their owner, but because of the breed’s appeal on the black market.
Small and friendly — and thus easy to grab — French bulldogs do not have large litters.
Their relative scarcity, and their association with stars such as Lady Gaga, Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Jackman, Chrissy Teigen, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Madonna gives them added cachet, and means they can change hands for thousands of dollars. — AFP
