U.S. Marshals Seek Man Mistakenly Freed in Shooting of Lady Gaga’s Dog Walker

The U.S. Marshals Service this week announced a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the capture of a 19-year-old man who was charged last year with stealing two of Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs and shooting her dog walker — but was accidentally released from a Los Angeles jail in April.

The man, James Howard Jackson, 19, who faces charges including attempted murder and second-degree robbery, was “erroneously released from custody” because of a “clerical error” after he was indicted, the agency said in a news release.

“Jackson should be considered armed and dangerous,” the agency said. “Anyone with information as to his whereabouts should contact law enforcement immediately.”

Ryan Fischer, the dog walker, who was shot in the chest during the Feb. 24, 2021, attack, said in an Instagram post two days after Mr. Jackson’s accidental release on April 6 that Mr. Jackson should surrender.

“I ask for Mr. Jackson to turn himself over to the authorities,” Mr. Fischer wrote, “so resolution to the crime committed against me runs its course, whatever the courts determine that outcome to be.”

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Major Crime Team requested the help of the U.S. Marshals Service to find and arrest Jackson, the service said Monday.

In addition to Mr. Jackson, four other people are charged in connection with the attack. Jaylin White, 20, and Lafayette Whaley, 28, were involved in the robbery and shooting, the authorities said, and Harold White, 42, and Jennifer McBride, 51, were accused of being accessories after the shooting.

Mr. Fischer was walking north on Sierra Bonita Avenue in Hollywood with Lady Gaga’s three French bulldogs around 9:40 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2021, when a car pulled up next to him. Surveillance video from a nearby home showed two men getting out of the car and fighting with Mr. Fischer. He screamed repeatedly, and moments later he was shot.

The three men then grabbed two of the dogs and fled in a car, prosecutors said.

Mr. Fischer, who was critically wounded in the shooting, recalled in an Instagram post after the attack lying in a pool of blood and holding Lady Gaga’s dog that had not been stolen in the attack.

Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, offered a $500,000 reward for the return of her dogs, Koji and Gustav. Ms. McBride, one of those charged, reported that she had found the dogs and responded to a reward email to return them.

The authorities said they believe the men targeted the dog walker because French bulldogs are valuable — not because they knew Lady Gaga owned the dogs.