A suspect mistakenly released from a Los Angeles County jail where he was being held on suspicion of shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her French bulldogs has been recaptured, authorities said.
James Howard Jackson, 19, on Wednesday was arrested nearly five months after he was released from jail while awaiting trial “due to a clerical error,” police said in a statement.
Jackson was one of five people arrested in connection with the attack in Hollywood on Feb. 24 last year.
Photo: AP
Last month, the US Marshals Service announced a reward of up to US$5,000 for information leading to his arrest.
His arrest comes as another man charged in the case pleaded no contest to second-degree robbery.
Jaylin Keyshawn White, 20, was immediately sentenced to four years in state prison, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee told NBC4.
Prosecutors said Jackson and two other alleged gang members had driven around looking for expensive French bulldogs to steal when they spotted, tailed and robbed Ryan Fischer as he walked Lady Gaga’s dogs near Sunset Boulevard.
Fischer was with the pop star’s three dogs, named Asia, Koji and Gustav.
During a violent struggle, Fischer was hit, choked and then shot in an attack captured by the doorbell camera of a nearby home.
The video captured Fischer screaming: “Oh, my God, I’ve been shot” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest.”
Fischer lost part of a lung. About a month after the incident, he wrote on Instagram that his recovery had gone well.
The pop star’s dogs were returned two days later by a woman who said she had found them tied to a pole and asked about Lady Gaga’s offer of a US$500,000 reward if the dogs were returned “no questions asked.”
The singer was in Rome at the time filming a movie.
The woman was charged with receiving stolen property, and the father of another suspect was charged with helping him avoid arrest.
Before his release, Jackson was charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and pleaded not guilty.
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