US marshals hunt man wrongly released over shooting of Lady Gaga’s dog walker
The US Marshals Service is searching for a man who was erroneously released from custody after being arrested for shooting a dog walker who worked for the singer and actor Lady Gaga.
In a statement on Monday, the federal agency announced a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of James Howard Jackson, 19.
Jackson was charged with robbery and attempted murder but in April, more than a year after the shooting, a clerical error led to his mistaken release.
The Los Angeles county district attorney’s office replaced charges filed against Jackson with a superseding grand jury indictment. During this process, the Los Angeles county sheriff’s department released Jackson by mistake.
Jackson was one of five people arrested in connection to the shooting, which took place on 24 February last year.
Lady Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer,
was walking three French bulldogs – Asia, Koji and Gustav – belonging to the pop star.
Video of the incident showed a white car pulling up. Two men jumped out and attempted to steal the dogs. Before fleeing with two of the dogs, a man – allegedly Jackson – pulled out a handgun and fired a single shot at Fischer.
Fischer suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound in the chest. On Instagram a week after the shooting, he said he had “a very close call with death”.
With two of her dogs missing, Lady Gaga announced a $500,000 no-questions-asked reward for their return.
Two days later, a woman returned the dogs to a Los Angeles police department station. The woman was first believed to be unassociated with the crime but was later arrested with four others, including Jackson.
Law enforcement officials believe the group did not know the dogs belonged to Lady Gaga and instead were looking to steal the French bulldogs, an expensive dog breed, for their monetary value.
In a statement on Instagram, Fischer said he was “deeply concerned at the events that led to his release”.
“I’m confident law enforcement will rectify the error,” he wrote. “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.”