Los Angeles Police Department has arrested five people in connection to dognapping Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs and attempting to murder her dog walker. Officers arrested the suspect after executing arrest warrants and search warrants on April 27, 2021.
In the evening hours of Feb. 24, Lady Gaga’s dog walker — Ryan Fischer — was walking the three dogs when he was shot. Two people were filmed attacking Fischer before absconding with two of the expensive canines.
Fischer was seriously injured during the attack. He was released from the hospital one month after the attack. He is still recovering from his trauma.
On Wednesday, April 29, all five suspects were charged with attempted murder. Los Angeles officers identified the suspects:
- 18-year-old James Jackson
- 19-year-old Jaylin White
- 27-year-old Lafayette Whaley
- 40-year-old Harold White
- 50-year-old Jennifer McBride
Whaley, White, and Jackson have been charged with executing the dognapping. McBride and White are charged as accessories to the dog heist.
In a release, police officers said they “do not believe suspects were targeting the victim because of the dogs’ owner.” Detectives further stated they found “evidence” suggesting “the suspects knew the great value of the breed of dogs and was the motivation for the robbery.”
McBride is the woman who stepped forward claiming to have found Lady Gaga’s dogs. She attempted to turn them in for the $500,000 reward — for the dogs’ safe return — offered by Lady Gaga. Due to being suspicious of McBride’s story, police advised the pop star not to pay the hefty reward she offered.
At first, investigators believed that Lady Gaga’s dogs were stolen as part of the gang initiation prank. Later on, their focus shifted to a dog-stealing ring. French bulldogs can be sold for thousands of dollars on the black market.
Authorities believe the suspect became spooked by the publicity the stolen dogs were receiving They then decided to try and cash in on the reward Lady Gaga offered.
After news broke about the arrests; people started to post on social media about the arrest in the lady Gaga dognapping case. Many are happy to see that the suspects have been arrested. One person commented on a tweet saying they hope the suspects “rot in jail for kidnapping defenseless creatures and shooting the walker.”
Written by Sheena Robertson
Source:
New York Post: Lady Gaga’s alleged dognappers and woman who ‘found’ them arrested; by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Aphrodite in NYC’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
