Suspect in shooting of Lady Gaga's dog walker re-arrested after accidental release

Joey Nolfi
·3 min read
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A man who was charged with attempted murder — and later mistakenly released from jail — after a February 2021 incident involving the alleged violent theft of Lady Gaga's French bulldogs has been re-arrested in Los Angeles.

The 19-year-old suspect, James Howard Jackson, was given an "inadvertent release" from custody in April 2022, though the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Thursday that he had been captured after four months.

"Suspect Jackson was previously incarcerated after he shot a victim and robbed him of two dogs. On April 6, 2022, Suspect Jackson was erroneously released from custody due to a clerical error. The two agencies worked together and spent the next four months extensively searching for Suspect Jackson," the department wrote of the arrest on Facebook. "With the assistance of the Special Enforcement Bureau, investigators executed a search warrant on Apricot Drive in the city of Palmdale. Suspect Jackson was apprehended without incident."

Lady Gaga and french bulldog; dogwalker Ryan Fischer
Lady Gaga and french bulldog; dogwalker Ryan Fischer

MPI67/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Ryan Fischer/Instagram Lady Gaga and her dog walker, Ryan Fischer

Jackson was reportedly involved with five suspects who were initially arrested on attempted murder and suspicion of robbery after they allegedly shot the dog walker, Ryan Fischer, and made off with two of Gaga's pets. The dogs, Koji and Gustav, were eventually safely returned to police by a 50-year-old woman, who was also charged.

In a pair of Instagram Stories posted in April, Fischer posted images of headlines reporting Jackson's release, and captioned the photos with, "Lord, grant me the serenity" and "deep breaths."

Fischer eventually posted a longer statement: "While I'm deeply concerned at the events that led to his release, I'm confident law enforcement will rectify the error. I ask for Mr. Jackson to turn himself over to the authorities, so resolution to the crime committed against me runs its course, whatever the courts determine that outcome to be. Thank you to everyone who is supporting me during this time."

After the attack, Gaga offered $500,000 for the safe return of the dogs, and praised Fischer for risking his life to protect them. "You risked your life to fight for our family," she said. "You're forever a hero."

EW later learned through a source close to the situation that Gaga covered Fischer's medical bills related to the shooting, totaling around $100,000.

"When they put the chest tube in, all of this blood just spurted out on the doctor next to me and everyone's faces just dropped. I heard my blood pressure drop," Fischer told CBS This Morning in an interview. "The people in the E.R. who I'd seen that night told me that they didn't think I was going to survive that night."

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