Lady Gaga’s dog walker has been shot and two of the singer’s French bulldogs were stolen during an armed robbery in Hollywood, police said.
The dog walker was shot once on Wednesday night and is expected to survive his injuries, according to Los Angeles police captain Jonathan Tippett, commanding officer of the department’s elite robbery-homicide division.
The man was walking three of Lady Gaga’s dogs at the time but one escaped and was later found safe.
Captain Tippett said the dogs belong to the pop star who is currently filming a movie in Rome. It is not yet clear if the dog walker was targeted because of his celebrity client, the captain said.
Lady Gaga is offering a 500,000 dollar (£350,000) reward for the return of her dogs — whose names are Koji and Gustav — with no questions asked, according to her representative.
Police were initially called to North Sierra Bonita Avenue around 9.40pm on Wednesday following several 911 calls reporting a man screaming and the sound of a gunshot, said captain Steven Lurie, commanding officer of the department’s Hollywood division.
The victim, whose name has not been released, was walking the dogs on a street off the famous Sunset Boulevard when a four-door sedan pulled over and two men tried to steal the animals, police said.
The dog walker tried to fight them off and was shot by one of the men wielding a semi-automatic handgun during the struggle.
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