HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (CNS) - Pop star and actress Lady Gaga made a public plea Friday for the return of her French bulldogs that were stolen during a shooting in Hollywood, and she praised the dog walker who was shot during the crime.
In her first public statement since the Wednesday night crime, Lady Gaga took to social media, posting a series of photos of the bulldogs.
"My beloved dogs Koji and Gustav were taken in Hollywood two nights ago," she wrote. "My heart is sick and I am praying my family will be whole again with an act of kindness. I will pay $500,000 for their safe return. Email KojiandGustav@gmail.com to contact us. Or, if you bought or found them unknowingly, the reward is the same.
"I continue to love you Ryan Fischer, you risked your life to fight for our family," she said of the wounded dog-walker. "You're forever a hero."
Fischer remains hospitalized. He was shot once when he was accosted by a pair of assailants about 9:40 p.m. Wednesday in the 1500 block of North Sierra Bonita Avenue, near Sunset Boulevard.
My beloved dogs Koji and Gustav were taken in Hollywood two nights ago. My heart is sick and I am praying my family will be whole again with an act of kindness. I will pay $500,000 for their safe return. Email KojiandGustav@gmail.com to contact us. pic.twitter.com/3NY9u7Mw2K
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 26, 2021
Fischer was walking three of Lady Gaga's dogs at the time, and the attackers made off with two of them, named Koji and Gustav. A third dog, a black French bulldog named Miss Asia, was recovered.
TMZ obtained surveillance video that captured the shooting, apparently from a home security system on Sierra Bonita Avenue. The video shows Fischer walking on the sidewalk when a white sedan pulls up and stops in the street, with two people jumping from the back seat and saying, "Give it up."
A struggle ensues, and one gunshot can be heard, prompting Fischer to fall to the ground, screaming. The assailants each grabbed one dog and got back into the rear seat of the car, leaving Fischer on the ground yelling for help. The black bulldog, Miss Asia, is seen on the video running back to Fischer on the ground after the assailants' vehicle disappears from view.
Dennis Volochkova, who lives in the neighborhood, told ABC7 he heard Fischer screaming and ran to help him.
"(I) grabbed some towels from inside, ran out, got to the guy and then he told me right away who he was, who he worked for, who's dogs they were," Volochkova said.
Volochkova took Miss Asia, who he said was shaking and covered in blood, from Fischer as paramedics treated the wounded man.
"He was holding it so close, he didn't want to let it go, it was his responsibility, like his baby, it almost felt like I was prying it out of his hands."
Police described the two suspects as men about 20 to 25 years old, one with blond dreadlocks and wearing a black hoodie and carrying a semi-automatic handgun. The other was clad in dark clothing.
They fled the scene in a four-door Nissan Altima, according to the LAPD.
Lady Gaga is in Italy filming a movie.
The singer's father, New York restaurant owner Joe Germanotta, told the New York Post Thursday the family is "just sick over it. It's really horrible. It's like someone took one of your kids."
He told Fox News that Fischer is a friend of the family, and he asked for the public's help to "catch these creeps."
"Horrible people in L.A.," Germanotta told the station. "Shooting someone in order to steal dogs is wrong."
Police asked anyone with photos or video of the robbery to send them to SAFELATIPS@lapd.online. Anyone with information was asked to call Detective Marsden and Detective Brown at 213-486-6840.
