A man accused of shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker and snatching her two French bulldogs has been mistaken released from hail.
James Jackson, who was facing attempted murder charge, was released from Los Angeles County’s jail earlier this week due to a ‘clerical error’, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The 19-year-old was one of five people arrested in connection with the attack on the pop star’s dog walker in Hollywood in February 2021.
It has been claimed that Jackson, alongside two other alleged gang members, had driven around seeking expensive French bulldogs to steal near Sunset Boulevard.
The group allegedly spotted, tailed and robbed Ryan Fischer as he walked Lady Gaga’s dogs.
Mr Fischer was hit, choked and then shot in an attack captured by the doorbell camera of a nearby home.
The camera recorded the dog walker screaming “Oh, my God. I’ve been shot!” and “Help me!” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest”.
Mr Fischer lost part of a lung.
“While I’m deeply concerned at the events that led to his release, I’m confident law enforcement will rectify the error,” Mr Fischer said in a statement obtained by 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.”
The pop star’s dogs were returned two days later by a woman who claimed she had found them tied to a pole and asked about Lady Gaga’s offer of a $500,000 reward if the dogs were returned “no questions asked”. The singer was in Rome at the time filming a movie.
She has been charged with receiving stolen property and the father of another suspect is charged with helping him avoid arrest.
Jackson already had pleaded 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.
The move was done “to speed up the legal process” and Jackson was arraigned on Wednesday under a new case number, the District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
“Mr Jackson was subsequently released from custody by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. We are unsure as to why they did so,” the statement said.
