Five charged in snatching at gunpoint of Lady Gaga’s dogs

LOS ANGELES — Five people have been arrested on charges stemming from the violent theft of two bulldogs belonging to pop star Lady Gaga and the shooting of a dog walker during the pets’ abduction in Hollywood earlier this year, authorities said on Thursday.

Four of the ve suspects were known street gang members, while the fth was the woman who reported she had found the dogs and safely returned them after a reward was o ered, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

The two bulldogs, named Koji and Gustav, were dropped o unharmed at an LAPD station on February 26 and turned over to the musician’s representatives two days after they were snatched at gunpoint by two strangers in a car.

The dog walker who was accosted, 30-year-old Ryan Fischer, was shot in the chest by one of the suspects as they grabbed the two bulldogs, but he survived. A third Gaga-owned bulldog out walking with Fischer at the time escaped and was later found safe by police.

In an interview days afterward, Fischer said he had su ered "a very close call with death."

Gaga, who was lming a movie in Rome when her pets were taken, had issued a public plea on social media for an "act of kindness" to bring them home, and offered a $500 000 reward.