February 2023 marks two years since Ryan Fischer was shot while walking Lady Gaga's dogs. The French bulldogs have acquired fame as the pups of the megastar, and Fischer was hired to be Gaga's dogwalker. While in Los Angeles one fateful evening, Fischer was violently attacked by several assailants who stole the animals and shot him as he attempted to save the dogs. According to Rolling Stone, James Howard Jackson, 20, was the gunman who pleaded no contest to attempted murder with great bodily injury. He also reportedly admitted to a prior strike.
“With the attack, you completely altered my life,” Fischer told Jackson during the sentencing hearing. Jackson received 21 years in prison in a plea deal described as "last-minute."
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“You shot me and left me to die, and both of our lives have changed forever,” Fischer, 41, added. He spoke of his lungs collapsing due to his injuries and the "loss of career [and] friendships."
“I do forgive you. With the attack, you completely altered my life. I know I can’t completely move on from the night you shot me until I said those words to you,” he said. Of the dogs, Fischer was grateful they were returned unharmed. “They were returned and returned to their mom. I don’t think I could have lived with myself if they died.”
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Rolling Stone reported when the dogs were kidnapped, the assailants didn't know they belonged to Lady Gaga. When Jackson and his accomplices accosted Fischer, he refused to hand over the animals. It was then that Jackson reportedly shot Fischer in the chest at close range. Fischer testified that the person who had the gun didn't only shoot him, but he also "began to choke me."
The two co-defendants were "charged as accessories after the fact." Following the incident, Fischer traveled cross-country in his car and eventually ran out of savings before launching a crowdfunding campaign.
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