Lady Gaga’s two French bulldogs, which were stolen by thieves who shot and wounded the dogwalker, were recovered unharmed Friday, Los Angeles police said.
A woman brought the dogs to the LAPD’s Olympic Community Police Station, just northwest of downtown, about 6 p.m., said Capt. Jonathan Tippett, commanding officer of the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
Lady Gaga’s representative and detectives went to the station and confirmed that they were the dogs.
The singer is in Rome to film a movie.
The woman who dropped off the dogs appears to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with Wednesday night’s attack, Tippett said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how she obtained the dogs.
The dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot once as he walked three of the singer’s dogs in Hollywood. Video showed a white sedan pulling up and two men jumping out. They struggled with the dog walker before one pulled a gun and fired a single shot before fleeing with two of the dogs.
The dog walker can be heard on the video saying he had been shot in the chest. Tippett said he is expected to survive his injuries.
Lady Gaga on Friday repeated her offer of a $500,000 reward for the return of her dogs — whose names are Koji and Gustav — with no questions asked.
“I continue to love you Ryan Fischer, you risked your life to fight for our family. You’re forever a hero,” she said in an Instagram post.
Fischer was critically injured in the Wednesday incident, the singer’s father said Friday.
Lady Gaga’s father, Joe Germanotta, told CNN that the attack left Gaga’s friend and dog walker hospitalized. He is still in critical condition, Germanotta said.
“We are hoping for an act of kindness so we can get the dogs back,” Germanotta told CNN in a phone call Friday morning. “We are upset about [the dog walker]. It’s very appalling that someone would shoot somebody to steal some dogs. Hopefully, they’ll be caught so we can get the dogs back safely.”
Los Angeles Police Department officials say the dogs were stolen while on a stroll with Gaga’s dog walker, who was shot about 9:40 p.m. Wednesday in the 1500 block of North Sierra Bonita Avenue.
Fischer was walking three of Lady Gaga’s dogs at the time, but one escaped. The third dog has been found.
LAPD detectives are scouring surveillance footage that shows two individuals attacking the dog walker, opening fire and then fleeing the scene with two of the singer’s dogs, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Mike Lopez told CNN.
The dog walker tried to fight them off and was shot by one of the men wielding a semiautomatic handgun during the struggle. It’s not yet known if both men were armed.
Sources told NBC News the pop star “is offering half-a-million dollars to anyone who has her 2 dogs, no questions asked. Anyone who has the dogs can use this email — KojiandGustav@gmail.com — to retrieve the reward.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
About the Author
