NEWS AND COMMENT: While Lady Gaga was abroad shooting a film, Gucci, directed by Ridley Scott, dog walker Ryan Fischer – taking her three French bulldogs for a walk in Hollywood – was shot in the chest with a handgun by a man of colour (one of two men) who struggled with Fischer because he refused to give up the dogs before being shot. Two dogs were taken. The third ran off. The dog walker survived and is very poorly.
French bulldogs are in demand. Pedigree, top quality dogs, can fetch over £6,000. The average price used to be around £1,400 but it has increased dramatically due to demand and demand has increased rapidly due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
There has been a surge in impulse, must-have, manic purchasing as if this dog breed is the accessory to have in 2021. I seen them in Richmond Park where I walk regularly. It is not good and it has caused these sorts of violent thefts. They are robberies technically. The French bulldog is worth more as an asset to trade than street drugs which is why dealers have moved into trading dogs!
There is also a dog welfare issue as some dogs are given up after quite a short period of time because the owner was unprepared to discharge their responsibilities over the long term.
Lady Gaga has offered the astonishing reward for the return of her dogs of $500,000, about £350,000. She can afford it but OMG, what a reward. Might it encourage more thefts of dogs from celebrities? This is big money and some thefts are committed with the intention of blackmailing the dog’s owner to pay up for the return of the dog. This reward is not far from that scenario.
Two of the dogs were stolen while a third Miss Asia ran away and was later recovered by the police.
It is not clear if the robbers knew that they were stealing Lady Gaga’s dogs. It seems unlikely as the chances of them being caught were greatly enhanced. I suspect they just saw three ‘assets’ walking down the street and decided to steal them. Three French bulldogs are worth up to $25,000. Easy money. The robbery wrong as the man shot the dog walker.
It happened on North Sierra Bonita Avenue at 9:40 pm on Wednesday. The robbers fled in a white car towards Hollywood Boulevard.
Lady Gaga has spoken with her dog walker described as her ’employee’. Is that true? She has stayed in Italy on the film set of Gucci but telephoned to check up on his health. He is 30 years old and at a LA hospital. The information comes from Last Gaga’s father Joe Germanotta who said:
“We are [relieved]. Stephanie’s been communicating with him and he’s out of intensive care. He’s on the mend. We’re thankful for that…”
Lady Gaga’s (real name Stephanie Germanotta) father has pleaded to the public in an interview with Fox News to find ‘these creeps’. They are desperate for the safe return of the two missing pups: Koji and Gustavo.
Lady Gaga is very protective of her dogs. They accompanied her to the American Music Awards and her 2017 Super Bowl Halftime show.
Update
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I am able to provide an update on the story which I guess nobody will read but I will deliver it nonetheless. Firstly, I was told by my girlfriend that the 2 missing dogs have been found and returned by a woman who apparently knew the alleged criminals. So she brought the dogs back. I would hope that the police have interviewed her thoroughly and investigated matters thoroughly because it seems to me that she is a gateway to catching the criminals.
Secondly, Lady Gaga’s dog walker has provided a full description of what he went through when he was shot by thieves who stole two of his employer’s beloved French bulldogs. He is 30 years old and he said that one of her dogs, Miss Asia, acted as his guardian angel while sitting beside him as he was bleeding from the gunshot wound.
He’s posted some photographs on his Instagram account which show him lying in a Los Angeles hospital recovering from “a close call with death”. He has been on a ventilator and in one picture you can see a dressing on his chest.
He is expected to make a full recovery. He said that Miss Asia fled from the thieves when he was shot but she returned to lie beside him on the pavement. Mr Fischer said: “My panicked screams calmed as I looked at her, even though it registered that the blood pooling around her tiny body was my own. I cradled Asia as best I could, thanked her for all the incredible adventures we had been on together, apologised that I couldn’t defend her brothers, and then resolved that I would still try to save them…and myself.”
He hoped that the descriptions of the dogs that had been lost helped the police find them. I’m not sure that they had been returned but I’ve been told that they have.
FURTHER UPDATE ABOUT THE CHARGES – 30th April 2021:
MSN News states (amended slightly):
“James Howard Jackson, 18, 19-year-old Jaylin Keyshawn White and Lafayette Shon Whaley, 27 — all face charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery. Jackson also faces one count each of assault with a semi-automatic firearm and a felon carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle. White faces one count of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury. Two others, Harold White and McBride, have been charged with one count each of accessory after the fact, and McBride faces one count of receiving stolen property.”
