A man walking three dogs owned by Lady Gaga was shot four times in the chest before two men stole two of the singer’s French bulldogs.
Los Angeles Police confirmed that a shooting occurred in West Hollywood shortly before 2200 local time [0600 GMT] on Wednesday night, with the victim rushed to hospital in an unknown condition.
Two suspects fled the scene, with The Daily Mail reporting that they took Lady Gaga’s two French bulldogs, Koji and Gustavo.
A third French bulldog was recovered at the scene by police.
The shooting suspect, who used a semi-automatic handgun, left the scene in a white Nissan car, reports the Los Angeles Times.
A bodyguard for Lady Gaga was said to have picked up her third French bulldog, Miss Asia, from the LAPD’s Hollywood station shortly after the shooting.
Lady Gaga is offering $500,000 for the return of her dogs “no questions asked”, according to TMZ, which reports that she has been in Rome.
The singer’s team has already set up the email address [email protected] for any information on the missing dog.
Her dog-walker, Ryan Fischer, 30, had reportedly been walking the three French bulldogs outside his house before he was shot.
An LAPD spokesperson said that investigators have not yet managed to speak with Lady Gaga or her representatives to confirm that the dogs are owned by the singer.
The spokesperson also said that French bulldogs are currently in high demand in Los Angeles, California, and are a valuable breed, reports ABC7.
Numerous other thefts of the breed have been reported in the city and police do not believe that the pop star was specifically targetted.
Police scanner audio has revealed the moment that police were called to the scene.
“Shooting just occurred … caller heard one gunshot and a female screaming,” a 911 operator said over the scanner, alerting patrol officers of the incident.
“One male down … male conscious and breathing, approximately 35-years-old, suffering from a gunshot wound.”
Later on in the audio, the 911 operator reported that “two small dogs” were taken and the attacker was last seen fleeing northbound on North Sierra Bonita Avenue towards Hollywood Boulevard in a white car.
Security camera video obtained by TMZ also shows the violence unfolding.
The footage, captured by cameras at a neighbouring home, shows a white car pulling up behind the dog-walker and two men jumping out of it.
The sounds of a gun being cocked can be heard and one of them men said “give it up”.
The dog-walker put up a fight, screamed for help and shouted for one of the dogs, Koji, before he was shot in the chest and crumpled to the ground.
The two thieves then each grabbed a dog and jumped into the backseat of the car, with the third dog running back to the dog-walker.
TMZ says the neighbour agreed to share the video to help police try and catch the men and reunite Lady Gaga with her dogs.
The incident comes just a month after the singer performed a rousing rendition of the national anthem at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in Washington DC.
Lady Gaga’s father has now urged the public to help police catch the “creeps” who shot the dog-walker.
Joe Germanotta, who described the dog-walker as a “friend” of his family, spoke to Fox News on Thursday, just hours after the incident.
“Our whole family is upset and praying Koji and Gustavo are not harmed,” said Mr Germanotta. “Help us catch these creeps.”
He added: ““Horrible people in LA. Shooting someone in order to steal dogs is wrong.”
LAPD public information officer Jeff Lee says that investigators are treating the case as “assault with a deadly weapon”.
The singer had yet to address the incident on her social media accounts as of Thursday morning.
