UPDATE (THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021 @ 7:00 PM ET): The alleged dognappers who went after Lady Gaga’s two French bulldogs and shot her dog walker, and those who were “accessories” in the Feb. 2021 crime, have been arrested. The Los Angeles Police Department revealed that it arrested five suspects — James Jackson, 18, Jaylin White, 19, Lafayette Whaley, 27, Harold White, 40, and Jennifer McBride, 50 — on April 27, according to a press release from the LAPD that HollywoodLife obtained. Police claim that one of the suspects, McBride, was the person who “found” the dogs and responded to Gaga’s reward email.
However, police don’t believe that Gaga’s fame motivated the crime. “Detectives do not believe the suspects were targeting the victim because of the dogs’ owner. However, evidence suggests the suspects knew the great value of the breed of dogs and was the motivation for the robbery,” the LAPD further reported.
ORIGINAL: Lady Gaga has been spotted for the first time since her French bulldogs Koji and Gustav were stolen at gunpoint in Hollywood. The singer, 34, looked incredibly glam when she stepped out of her hotel in Rome on March 2, offering the cameras a wave — see the pics here. The “Papparazzi” hitmaker, who has been filming a new movie in Italy, wore a stylish, beige Max Mara coat and carried a black and white monogrammed Chanel handbag. She completed the look with white gloves, towering red and black pumps, and a white protective face mask. Her brunette locks were swept back into an up-do, as she stepped out for the first time since her dog walker was shot in the chest during a terrifying Feb. 24 incident. The next day, she was spotted out again, this time in an all-white ensemble, with high-waisted pants, pearls, and black patent leather platform heels.
Ryan Fischer was caring for Gaga’s beloved pets and took them for a walk near Sunset Boulevard around 9:40 p.m. on the evening of the attack. Video footage of the ambush showed two men pulling up in a white, four door Nissan Altima, getting out and struggling to steal the dogs from Ryan as he put up a fight to save them. One of the men pulled out a gun and shot Ryan in the chest, before the pair made off with Koji and Gustav. A woman turned the pups into the cops on the night of Feb. 26, however it is not known whether she will receive the $500,000 reward Gaga put up for the safe return of her pets. “My heart is sick and I am praying my family will be whole again with an act of kindness. I will pay $500,000 for their safe return,” she wrote on Instagram in a desperate plea for their return.
A source close to the “Just Dance” singer previously told HollywoodLife that Gaga was “freaked” by the attack. “She treats anyone who works for her like family and Ryan is no exception. Her dogs are like her children and she’s shaken up. She doesn’t feel this was random and that’s scary for her,” the source explained, adding that she would be “taking every precaution to ensure [it] doesn’t happen again.”