Yahoo Finance Lady Gaga's Dog Walker Stayed in Singer's House for 'Months' After Horrific Attack: 'She's Helped Me So Much'
Ryan Fischer, the dog walker who was shot and critically injured during the violent February kidnapping of Lady Gaga's two French bulldogs, is speaking out in his first television interview.
While appearing on CBS Mornings Friday, Fischer, 40, chatted with co-host Gayle King about the attack that occurred when he was walking Gaga's three dogs, Miss Asia, Gustav and Koji on Feb. 24. (At the time, Miss Asia escaped the scene into some bushes while Gustav and Koji were snatched.) The dogs were returned to police two days after the attack.
In April, police in Los Angeles arrested five suspects in connection with the incident.
First sitting with King, 66, in New York City's Central Park, Fischer said, "Some days are great, some weeks are not. And that's been the big up and down the last couple of months."
CBS Mornings
Then, transitioning to Los Angeles and back to the scene of the harrowing crime, Fischer walked along the familiar path as he detailed to King how the attack took place. "The car came and screeched and it happened ... I think I was walking right here, and the car came, just basically in, like at an angle," he said, pointing to exact spots. "There was no doubt in my head that they were stopping for me."
Ryan Fischer, the man who was shot while walking Lady Gaga's dogs, spoke with @GayleKing for his first TV interview.
He says he is on a spiritual journey and that Gaga has helped him recover, allowing him to stay at her home for months after the attack. pic.twitter.com/oKkxdqolFG— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) September 17, 2021
After video of home security footage of Fischer's attack played, where he could be heard screaming in agony, he told King, "I was scared, I was in pain. I had a feeling, when they came up [and] pulled the gun on me that I was going to end up being shot, cause in my mind I was like, 'There's no way that I'm not going to fight for these dogs.'"
Fischer also chatted about Gaga, 35, and how she has been a constant supporter as he continues on his recovery journey.
"She's helped me so much," he said. "She's been a friend for me and after I was attacked, my family was flown out and I had trauma therapists flown to me and I stayed at her house for months while friends comforted me and security was around me."
Then, addressing a GoFundMe account that he set up after the incident, Fischer shut down any critics who came after Gaga with accusations that she was not supporting him.
"LG is very supportive of my journey right now and I think it's hard for people to understand why someone would go about healing in this way," he explained about why he wants to partake on his healing journey in his own ways without Gaga's assistance. "I grew up Catholic Jesuit faith, and there's something about giving up your resources, giving up belongings and contributing that to society."
"And so I know that doesn't make sense to a lot of people, [but] she totally gets it," he added of the "Poker Face" singer.
RELATED: Lady Gaga's Dog Walker 'Not Yet in the Proper Headspace to Care for Dogs' After Shooting
CBS Mornings
According to Fischer, he was shot once, and because he "was reaching forward," the bullet went in right next to his neck, above his clavicle, and went out his shoulder blade. "It pierced my lung," he explained. "I was on the operating table and they're all working together — it was a team of eight or nine people, all around the table — working on me."
At that moment, Fischer said, he thought he would not survive. "I heard my blood pressure drop — I looked at the machine," he said. "The people in the ER, who I had seen that night, told me they didn't think I was gonna survive that night."
In the end, the surgery was successful. "They removed the top third of my lung and then a portion of the bottom of my lung."
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Also during his candid conversation with CBS Mornings, King asked Fischer if he believed he was targeted because his attackers knew the dogs belong to Gaga.
"I wasn't sure in the moment, anything's possible," he said. "But I would be surprised if they did know."
"I think they just saw a guy with three French bulldogs," he continued, adding, "The one thing I've noticed in L.A. while walking the dogs is people would say out of the cars, 'How much are those dogs worth?' Like, 'How much are they? Can I buy them?' And that part was always surprising — the viewing of the dog as a commodity."
RELATED VIDEO: Dog Walker Ryan Fischer Opens Up About Violent Robbery, Tells Lady Gaga 'Your Babies Are Back'
Fischer also reunited with a man he identified as Carlos, whose house he was shot in front of, and described him as "an angel telling me that I'd be okay, like to keep my eyes open, to look at him, to keep breathing."
"I had done trauma therapy in that night, but actually seeing Carlos, and seeing that same friendly, reassuring face helps me to realize that in that moment that I wasn't alone. I wasn't abandoned," Fischer added. "He and other people did come out for me."
Three men — James Jackson, 18, Jaylin White, 19, and Lafayette Whaley, 27 — were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, second-degree robbery and attempted murder; Jennifer McBride, 50, who returned the dogs to police two days after the attack, and Jaylin's father, Harold White, 40, were "determined to be accessories after the initial crime" and also charged, police said.
