The suspect who allegedly shot Lady Gaga's dog walker last year is reportedly now a free man thanks to a bizarre mistake.
The man, 19-year-old James Howard Jackson, was "mistakenly released" from a Los Angeles jail on Wednesday, NBC News reports.
During a court appearance, charges against Jackson stemming from the shooting were reportedly dismissed so they could be replaced by a grand jury indictment. But according to NBC, the records were apparently not updated to reflect the indictment, leading to Jackson's release.
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Last year, police arrested five suspects after Ryan Fischer was shot while walking Gaga's French bulldogs in Los Angeles. After the suspects stole two of the dogs, Gaga offered a $500,000 reward for their return.
Jackson, who allegedly shot Fischer, was hit with charges including attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, and assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Gaga's dogs were later returned safely, and Fischer recovered from the shooting. But he told CBS that the "people in the E.R. who I'd seen that night told me that they didn't think I was going to survive that night."
"I was scared," he also said. "I was in pain. I had a feeling when they came up, pulled the gun on me, that I was going to end up being shot. In my mind, I was like, 'There's no way I'm not going to fight for these dogs.'"
Police said the suspects "knew the great value of the breed of dogs and was the motivation for the robbery" but didn't appear to target the dogs because Gaga was the owner.
According to NBC News, Jackson was still free as of Thursday evening. But TMZ reports the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is trying to find him and investigating how his mistaken release could have happened.
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