Lady Gaga’s dog-walker shot as pets snatched
Hollywood has been left stunned by an armed dognapping in which two of Lady Gaga’s pets were stolen, and her dog walker shot.
The devastated singer immediately offered US$500,000 (NZ$680,000) with ‘‘no questions asked’’ for the return of her french bulldogs.
Three of the singer’s dogs – Koji, Gustavo and Miss Asia – were being exercised by a family friend when he was attacked on Thursday night near Sunset Boulevard.
He was shot with a semiautomatic handgun as Koji and Gustavo were bundled into a white car, while Miss Asia escaped.
The dog walker, named by US media as Ryan Fischer, 30, was seen desperately clinging on to Miss Asia as he lay on the ground in a pool of blood with paramedics surrounding him.
Yesterday, graphic footage emerged from a nearby security camera. It showed two men jumping out of the back seat of a car, cocking a gun and shouting ‘‘Give it up!’’.
Fischer was holding one of the dogs and fought to keep it, screaming ‘‘Help me!’’. As he struggled with one man, the other shot him. He shouted: ‘‘I’ve been shot. Oh my God. I’m bleeding out, my heart, my lung, I’m bleeding out of my chest.’’
He was taken to Cedars-Sinai hospital, where police said his condition was ‘‘unknown’’ but an aide to Lady Gaga said he was ‘‘recovering well’’.
Joe Germanotta, the star’s father, who lives in New York, said: ‘‘Our whole family is upset and praying Koji and Gustavo are not harmed. Help us catch these creeps. We’re just sick over it, it’s really horrible. It’s like someone took one of your kids.’’ He said Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, had spoken to the dog walker.
Lady Victoria Hervey, the British socialite, who lives in Los Angeles, said: ‘‘Gaga’s dogs being dognapped is so scary. I got the alert last night of a dog owner shot on my Citizen app. Wow just Wow. LA has got so dangerous.’’
The dogs were being walked along North Sierra Bonita Avenue, a palm-tree lined residential street just off Sunset Boulevard.