Lady Gaga and Her Dogwalker Ryan Fischer Finally Receive Justice for the 2021 Shooting and Dog Kidnapping Incident

On the evening of February 24, 2021, Lady Gaga’s dogwalker, Ryan Fischer, was shot while walking her trio of French bulldogs down a quiet residential street in Hollywood. Two of her dogs, Koji and Gustav, were taken by his assailants.

The third, Miss Asia, escaped, returning to Fischer’s side as he lay bleeding from a chest wound. Fortunately, Fischer survived. The stolen dogs were returned after Gaga offered a $500,000 reward, leading to the arrest of five people.

Nearly two years later, justice is finally being served. On December 5th, 2022, the shooter, James Howard Jackson, pleaded no contest to one count of attempted murder. Fischer faced Jackson in court to give a statement about the harrowing robbery and how it changed his life.

Lady Gaga’s dogwalker Ryan Fischer described the brutal attack

In September, Fischer joined Gayle King of CBS Mornings for an exclusive interview, still suffering emotionally and physically from the attack. Fischer had been walking Gaga’s dogs for six years until that fateful night. He and the dogs were on the sidewalk when a car came screeching up from behind him and blocked his path.

“There was no doubt in my head that they were stopping for me,” he told King. “… I had a feeling when they came up and pulled the gun on me that I was going to end up being shot because, in my mind, there was no way I wasn’t going to fight for these dogs.”

King said Fischer professed his love for the dogs and gratitude for the support he received from Gaga during his recovery. “She’s helped me so much. She’s been a friend to me,” he told her. Fischer got to tell his story again directly to Jackson at sentencing. The Guardian published part of his emotional victim’s impact statement.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s nearing two years since I was taking Asia, Koji, and Gustav out for an evening stroll when in an instant I suddenly found myself fighting with everything I had to protect those dogs from being stolen. But it wasn’t enough: I was beaten, strangled, shot, and left to die, bleeding out on a sidewalk and gasping for my life. And Koji and Gustav were gone.”

According to People, Fischer also recounted suffering repeated lung collapses, losing his career and friends, enduring physical therapy, and falling into debt. Even so, Fischer chose to forgive his attacker for the traumatic shooting.

“I do forgive you,” he told Jackson in court. “With the attack, you completely altered my life. I know I can’t completely move on from the night you shot me until I said those words to you.”

Ryan Fischer’s shooter was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the violent attack

Rather than go to trial, Jackson accepted a plea deal for 21 years in prison for attempted murder with great bodily injury and admitted a prior strike related to the attack. The other charges against him were dropped, including being a felon in possession of a firearm in a vehicle. His conviction comes after being mistakenly released in April and evading capture until August.

According to Rolling Stone, Jackson was just 18 years old when he and his accomplices, 19-year-old Jaylin White and 27-year-old Lafayette Whaley, spotted Fischer walking the valuable dogs and decided to abduct them. All three are reportedly documented gang members.

Police pieced together their involvement after Jennifer McBride, 50, returned the dogs in the hope of collecting the reward. Police asked Gaga to delay paying it and discovered, according to the AP, that McBride was in a relationship with White’s father. She and 40-year-old Harold White were both arrested as accessories. 

White’s father reportedly pleaded no contest to being an ex-convict in possession of a gun and is awaiting sentencing. The Orange County Register reported that earlier this year, Whaley received a six-year prison sentence for second-degree robbery, admitting a prior strike of criminal threats. The younger White received a sentence of three to four years for second-degree robbery. McBride was recently given two years probation for receiving stolen property.

Lady Gaga’s dogwalker Ryan Fischer is one of many people targeted by French bulldog thieves

Good Morning America reports that French bulldogs are the most frequently stolen breed and that the number of thefts, some at gunpoint, is up 40% over last year. The petite pooches that can retail for more than $5,000 are gentle, easy to snatch, and fetch high prices on the black market. 

As Fischer told King, “One thing I’ve noticed in LA while walking the dogs is that people would say out the cars, ‘How much are those dogs worth, like, how much are they? Can I buy them?’ And that part was always surprising, the viewing of a dog as a commodity.”

According to the New York Post, the theft of Gaga’s dogs prompted Hollywood dogwalkers to make security-minded changes, like carrying pepper spray, changing their schedules, and avoiding walking at night.

The pricy pups are the favorite pets of many other celebrities too. An online community for French bulldog lovers called Ask Frankie lists 30+ famous people who have French bulldogs, including Reese Witherspoon, Martha Stewart, her pal Snoop Dogg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson, and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.