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09th Apr 2022

Man accused of shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her dogs mistakenly freed from jail

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Police are searching for him.

A man who was accused of shooting and seriously wounding Lady Gaga’s dog walker and then stealing her two French bulldogs has been mistakenly released from prison.

19-year-old James Jackson was facing a charge of attempted murder when he was released from Los Angeles County’s jail on Wednesday (6 April) “due to a clerical error”, the Sheriff’s Department said.

A spokesperson said that the sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau is working on finding him.

He is one of five people who were arrested in connection with the attack in Hollywood in February last year, with prosecutors saying that he and two other alleged gang members had driven around seeking expensive French bulldogs to steal before spotting Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer.

Allegedly, they then tailed and robbed Fischer as he walked along Sunset Boulevard, where he was hit, choked and then shot.

He later lost part of his lung.

“While I’m deeply concerned at the events that led to his release, I’m confident law enforcement will rectify the error,” Fischer said in a statement to KABC-TV.

“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.”

Gaga’s dogs were later returned after a woman claimed she had found them tied to a pole.

Jackson pled not guilty when the county district attorney’s office filed a superseding indictment on Tuesday charging him with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

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