LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Authorities are searching for a man arrested for his alleged role in the shooting of Lady Gaga’s dog walker and the theft of her French bulldogs last year.
The suspect, James Howard Jackson, was in custody for attempted murder but was mistakenly released from custody on Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed.
He was in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center just a day before he was mistakenly released due to “a clerical error,” the sheriff’s department said.
“Mr. Jackson was arraigned on a superseding indictment filed in court under a new case number,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a statement to Nexstar’s KTLA. “The old case was then dismissed by a judge as required by law.”
It is unclear what the new indictment is.
Anyone with information on the suspect’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at (213) 229-1850.
The pop singer’s dog walker was shot while walking three of her dogs in Hollywood on Feb. 25, 2021.
Multiple people were involved in the attack, according to authorities. A car had pulled up to the dog walker near Sunset Boulevard that evening and two men jumped out. Jackson is the one accused of firing the single shot that landed the victim in the hospital before they got away with two dogs, the Associated Press reported. The third dog had run off.
The district attorney’s office said Jackson, Jaylin White, and Lafayette Whaley were charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery. The Los Angeles Police Department has said the trio are documented gang members.
A woman identified as Jennifer McBride later returned the two dogs unharmed to an L.A. police station. She turned out to be in a relationship with the father of one of the suspects, who was identified as Harold White. Both the father and McBride were charged with accessory after the fact to attempted murder, according to the DA.
Gaga’s dog walker survived the attack.
