Los Angeles police arrested and charged five people for their alleged involvement in the February shooting and robbery of Lady Gaga's dogwalker and the kidnapping of her beloved French bulldogs, ABC News reported Friday.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, three of the five arrested, Lafayette Whaley, 27, Jaylin White, 19, and James Jackson, 18, took part in the robbery and shooting of the singer's dogwalker, Ryan Fischer.
The arrests were made Tuesday, almost two months to the day after Gaga's dogwalker was shot by suspects who demanded he hand over her three French bulldogs and fled the scene with two of the dogs.
Fischer is recovering from a gunshot wound and has called the violence "a very close call with death" in social media posts.
An alleged accessory to the crime, 50-year old Jennifer McBride, who returned the singer's dogs to LAPD's Olympic Community Police Station two days after the armed robbery, is now being suspected of being involved in the crime.
"Detectives don't believe the suspects were targeting the victim because of the dogs' owner. However, evidence suggests the suspects knew the great value of the breed of dogs and was the motivation for the robbery," CNN quoted an LAPD news release as saying. The LAPD says the three suspects are gang members.
Lady Gaga offered a half-million dollar reward - "no questions asked" - to be reunited with the dogs. She had been in Rome when the incident happened, filming a movie.
Greg Risling, assistant media director at the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, confirmed that all five suspects pleaded not guilty and are each being held on $1 million bail.
