Another French bulldog is stolen at gunpoint in L.A.
Family is offering a $5,000 reward, with no questions asked, for the safe return of their 3-year-old pet.
A woman walking her French bulldog was held up at gunpoint Wednesday night by three men who snatched the dog and fled in a car, the latest pet-theft incident near the spot in Hollywood where Lady Gaga’s bulldogs were stolen this year.
The woman and the dog, Mona, were on a walk on North Detroit Street near Fountain Avenue when people in a vehicle spotted Mona and stopped, according to a family friend, Elisabeth Staroselskaya.
Three men got out of the car and approached them with guns drawn, Staroselskaya said Friday evening.
Mona shook her leash and fled, but one of the gunmen caught up to her. The three drove off with the dog.
Staroselskaya and the owner’s family have been spreading the word in the hopes someone returns Mona safely. The dog is 3 years old and has a malformation of the spine and chronic urinary tract infections that require daily medication.
Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Norma Eisenman didn’t immediately have information about the case. Staroselskaya, who spoke with detectives, said police told her they are looking through video footage from a nearby gas station where the suspects turned a corner.
The family is offering a $5,000 reward with no questions asked for Mona’s safe return.
The family has also sent messages to Lady Gaga on social media, hoping she will spread the news. The performer’s French bulldogs were stolen in February while they were being walked about one mile away from Wednesday’s incident. The dog walker was on the 1500 block of North Sierra Bonita Avenue when two men jumped out of a white sedan and demanded the dogs. The dog walker was shot during the robbery and was hospitalized and recovered, and the dogs were later returned.
Staroselskaya hopes for the same outcome.
“We don’t want anything else but her,” she said.
Mona’s owner, who doesn’t wish to speak to the media, is in shock, Staroselskaya said. Mona was a gift to keep the owner company after her son Yuriy Stratovich and Staroselskaya, his girlfriend, moved out of her home. The owner would take Mona on several walks every day, and the two watched TV together on the couch.
“She’s completely heartbroken,” Staroselskaya said.
Staroselskaya and Stratovich are now afraid to go on walks with their Maltipoo, Chanel.
“It used to be safe,” she said. “It’s turned into a completely scary neighborhood.”