Dognapper gun nightmare in Hollywood as Lady Gaga’s dog-walker is shot by thieves
Miraculously he survives after blast to chest ++ Star’s $500k reward for return of beloved pets
Lady Gaga offered a $500,000 (£354,000) reward last night after armed thieves shot her dog-walker in the chest and stole two of her beloved French bulldogs.
Ryan Fischer, 30, was ambushed outside his home in Hollywood as he walked the pets, Koji, Miss asia and Gustav.
The attackers fled with Koji and Gustav but Mr Fischer was, miraculously, found alive, still clutching on to Miss asia.
He was in hospital last night and said to be ‘recovering well’. It is believed he was shot once with a semi-automatic pistol as he tried to fight off the thieves.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, was in Rome working on a Ridley Scott film about the Gucci family and is said to be ‘extremely upset’.
She offered the enormous reward with ‘no questions asked’ and an email address – KojiandGustav@ gmail.com – was set up for any information on the crime, showbusiness website TMZ reported.
dramatic CCTV, obtained by TMZ, shows a white sedan pull up next to Mr Fischer before two men get out of the backseat and cock the gun.
One of the men says ‘Give it up’ before Mr Fischer starts screaming for help and shouting after Koji. The sound of a gunshot can then be heard as Mr Fischer collapses to the ground. The thieves get back into the car, carrying one dog each. One of the animals can be heard yelping, while the third runs back to Mr Fischer.
TV station KaBC showed footage of Mr Fischer lying on the pavement holding on to Miss asia as paramedics administered emergency aid.
a pool of blood and a towel covered in blood were seen after he was taken away.
Police were shown taking Miss asia, wrapped in a blanket, and loading her into a car. Mr Fischer was taken to hospital, where he was said to be conscious and talking.
One of Lady Gaga’s bodyguards later picked up the dog from the police station in Hollywood. The dog was wearing a harness decorated with cartoon lips. The singer’s father, Joe Germanotta, told Fox
News: ‘Our whole family is upset and praying Koji and Gustav are not harmed.’ He said that Mr Fischer is a family friend, adding: ‘Shooting someone in order to steal dogs is wrong.’
He pleaded with the public to ‘help us catch these creeps’.
The LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division, which probes high-profile cases in the city, is investigating. It was unclear last night whether the attackers knew that the dogs belong to Lady Gaga.
French bulldogs, which can cost up to £7,000, are one of the main targets for dognappers and cases of dog theft have soared during the coronavirus pandemic amid rising demand for puppies.
Mr Fischer, who runs a company called Valley of the Dogs, has been looking after Lady Gaga’s dogs while she is in Italy. He was walk-ing them at 9.40pm on Tuesday when he was attacked on a street off the famed Sunset Boulevard.
Police were called when a man was heard screaming and there were gunshots. The LAPD said in a statement: ‘A male suspect fired a semi-automatic handgun, strik-ing the victim.
‘The suspect was observed flee-ing in a white vehicle, north on Sierra Bonita Avenue towards Hollywood Boulevard. The victim was transported to a local hospital in an unknown condition. Two French bulldogs were taken’. The suspects are believed to be two black males, who were reportedly both wearing baseball caps.
Lady Gaga has owned Miss Asia, seven, since around 2014 and has talked about how she loves the dog so much she sleeps with her every night. The dog was the face of US fashion chain Coach along with the pop star, and in 2014 they posed together on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Gustav is five and has been Lady Gaga’s since shortly after he was born in 2016. Koji is six and has been with Lady Gaga since he was a puppy.
Lady Gaga has frequently fea-tured her dogs on social media and in one photo shot at Christmas she dressed all three in festive shirts and stood them in front of her Christmas tree.
Mr Fischer posted a clip about the dogs on his Instagram account, including giving them a ceremony for Ash Wednesday. He is seen tell-ing the dogs, ‘We are from the stars’ as they look at him while he stands in front of an illuminated cross.
He says: ‘No matter who you are – from human to hound – the tradition of setting aside time to contemplate your life and role in it is essential in the development of self.’ Mr Fischer ends the clip by telling each dog: ‘I love you.’
Dognapping is on the rise in the US and UK. In Britain the number of dogs stolen has nearly trebled, with 465 thefts reported last year compared with 172 in 2019.
Wayne May, from the organisa-tion Dog Lost, has said that 2020 was the ‘worst ever year I’ve known’ for dognapping because more people were looking for com-panions during lockdown.
Tara Bruno, founder of Snort Rescue, a US organisation that rescues bulldogs, pugs and Boston terriers, said: ‘The motive is resale. Thieves know they can get a cou-ple thousand dollars for them.’
‘Worst year ever for such thefts’