Sandy MaloneLos Angeles, CA – Investigators are looking at the possibility that the kidnapping of Lady Gaga’s dogs and the shooting of her dog walker were a gang initiation.
Sources with direct knowledge of the investigation told TMZ that police have been investigating the possibility of gang involvement because there have been similar crimes in the area recently.
The surveillance video of the crime lent some credibility to that theory and demonstrated the same modus operandi, according to the sources.
The video showed that when the suspects approached Lady Gaga’s dogs, dog walker Ryan Fischer was nowhere near them, TMZ reported.
Sources said that dogs could have easily been grabbed and put in a car without any violence.
Instead of just fleeing the scene, the suspects chose to shoot Fischer, TMZ reported.
Sources also said that the woman who returned Lady Gaga’s kidnapped pooches has not yet been paid the $500,000 reward that was promised.
Police have told Lady Gaga to wait until they have completed their investigation of the woman’s involvement in the crime before she hands over the reward, TMZ reported.
Sources said the police don’t think the woman who returned the dogs was involved in their kidnapping and the shooting of the dog walker, but they’re trying to figure out whether she had any involvement or connection to the suspects after the crime.
Fischer was shot in the chest four times just before 10 p.m. on Feb. 24 by a suspect who snatched two of the entertainer’s French bulldogs and fled.
The incident occurred while the 30-year-old dog walker was walking Lady Gaga’s three dogs in West Hollywood while the singer was out of town, the Daily Mail reported.
Police said Fischer was ambushed by the gunman and shot outside his home on Sierra Bonita Avenue.
The kidnapper took two of the three dogs – Koji and Gustavo – but video from the scene showed the dog walker on the ground holding on to Miss Asia.
Fischer was transported to a nearby hospital and treated for his gunshot wounds, the Daily Mail reported.
Lady Gaga offered a $500,000 reward – no questions asked – for the return of her dogs, TMZ reported.
The dogs were returned late on Feb. 26, CNN reported.
“The woman found the dogs and reached out to Lady Gaga’s staff to return them,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. “The woman’s identity and the location the dogs were found will remain confidential due to the active criminal investigation and for her safety.”
Holly Matkin
