Lady Gaga’s French Bulldogs have been found safe and well and handed into an LAPD precinct by an anonymous woman.
On 24 February 2021, Lady Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischer was shot in Hollywood, Los Angeles, with the dogs he was walking stolen.
Fischer was shot four times in the chest by a male suspect using a semi-automatic handgun who then made off with two of Gaga’s French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav. The third dog, Miss Asia, ran away from the attack and was later found by police not too far from the scene.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, was away from her home in Rome, Italy, where she was working on Ridley Scott’s new film Gucci, at the time of the attack.
A reward for the safe return of Koji and Gustav was quickly made public, with the A Star is Born actress offering $500,000 (£360,000) to those who came forward.
The police have since criticised such an approach with former FBI Agent, Frank Monotoya Jr., explaining that it could consequently jeopardise the police investigation and also incentivise criminals to steal the dogs of high-profile celebrities “and return them for exorbitant sums”.
Not too long after the brutal attack on 28 February and the two French bulldogs were returned, unharmed by a woman thought to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the crime. The unnamed woman handed Koji and Gustav into LAPD’s Olympic Community Police Station after reportedly finding them ‘tied to a pole’.
While the family are relieved to have the dogs returned, Gaga’s father, Joe Germanotta, is “still demanding justice” for Fischer and believes the criminals must be “tried for… assault and/or attempted murder”. At this moment in time, however, no arrests have been made.
Fischer – who “loved Gustav and Koji” just as much as Gaga – attempted to fight off his attackers and is currently recovering from his injuries in hospital.
In a statement offering a large reward, Gaga praised Fischer’s bravery, stating he will “forever [be] a hero”.
Fischer has since shared photos of himself in the hospital on his Instagram account. He reflects on his “very close call with death”, stating that while there is still “a lot of healing” to do, he looks forward to getting back to walking Miss Asia, Koji, and Gustav as soon as he can.
Nia Thomas
Featured image courtesy of Geo Chierchia via Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.