Entertainment News

LAPD arrests 5 in connection to Lady Gaga dog theft, shooting

By Danielle Haynes   |   April 29, 2021 at 7:57 PM
Two of Lady Gaga's French bulldogs were stolen and returned in February after a group of armed suspects shot her friend and dog walker. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI Lady Gaga, winner of Best Original Song for "Shallow" from "A Star is Born," appears backstage with her Oscar during the 91st annual Academy Awards at Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles on February 24, 2019. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Lady Gaga appears backstage with her awards for Best Song Written for Visual Media for "Shallow," Best Pop Duo Group Performance with Bradley Cooper, and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Joanne (Where Do You Think You're Goin'?)" during the 61st annual Grammy Awards held at Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 10, 2019. File Photo by Gregg DeGuire/UPI Lady Gaga speaks onstage during Pride Live's 2019 Stonewall Day to commemorate 50 years since the Stonewall riots during LGBT Pride Month on June 28, 2019 in New York City. File Photo by Steve Ferdman/UPI Lady Gaga arrives on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Benefit "Camp: Notes on Fashion" in New York City on May 6, 2019. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

April 29 (UPI) -- Los Angeles police said Thursday they arrested five people in connection with the shooting of Lady Gaga's dog walker and the abduction of her French bulldogs.

Police accused James Jackson, 18; Jaylin White, 19; and Lafayette Whaley, 27, of the initial crime, charging them each with one count of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery. Jackson also faces one count each of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and a felon carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and Jaylin White faces one count of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.

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Two others face one count each of accessory to attempted murder -- Harold White, 40, who is Jaylin White's father, and Jennifer McBride, 50.

Among those arrested was the woman who said she found the dogs and returned them for Lady Gaga's $500,000 reward, CNN reported.

The singer's friend, Ryan Fischer, was out walking Lady Gaga's three French bulldogs Feb. 24 when he was shot and two of the dogs -- Koji and Gustav -- were stolen. Fischer was seriously injured and was hospitalized.

"Detectives do not believe the suspects were targeting the victim because of the dogs' owner," the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. "However, evidence suggests the suspects knew the great value of the breed of dogs and was the motivation for the robbery."

Police said four of the of the suspects are "documented gang members."