Lady Gaga's dad has hailed the arrest of her alleged dognappers as "fabulous news".
Lady Gaga
The ‘Shallow’ hitmaker had two of her three French bulldogs stolen in a horrific attack in February, in which assailants shot her dog walker Ryan Fischer in the chest four times before stealing the dogs and on Thursday (29.04.21) police revealed they had apprehended five suspects on a variety of charges.
In response, Gaga's father, Joe Germanotta, told 'Entertainment Tonight': "That's fabulous news. I hope the L.A. prosecutor doesn't let them go. It's taken a while and I'm proud of the police department out there for sticking with it. As I said, I just hope that the DA doesn't let them go now. I'm going to give my daughter a call. I'm sure she'll be happy."
Gaga's dogs were returned to her days after the incident when she offered a $500,000 reward for their safe return, prompting Jennifer McBride to come forward and claim she had found the pooches in an alley, but the woman is one of those who has been arrested as an alleged accessory after the initial crime, as well as on one count of receiving stolen property.
According to LAPD, Harold White was also charged as an accessory after the fact and with a count of possession of a firearm, while James Jackson, Jaylin White and Lafayette Whaley have been have each been charged with one count of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery.
Jackson also faces two further firearm charges, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and a felon carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and White faces a count of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.
Detectives don't believe the suspects - who all have links to Los Angeles gangs - targeted Ryan because they were aware he was walking Gaga's dogs, but evidence suggests they were aware of the high value of the breed, which was their motivation.
Ryan was shot when he was walking Gaga’s three dogs – Miss Asia, Koji, and Gustavo – and during the attack, Miss Asia ran away from the scene while Koji and Gustavo were captured by the robbers.
Miss Asia was later recovered and returned the same day, before Koji and Gustavo were found two days after the shooting.
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