The man accused of shooting Lady Gaga's dog walker was accidentally released from jail this week, NBC News reports.
James Howard Jackson made headlines last year when he and two others ambushed the musician's dog walker, Ryan Fischer, and stole her French bulldogs while they were on an evening stroll in Hollywood.
Following the incident, all three men were charged with attempted murder, second-degree robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Jackson - who is alleged to be the gunman - was also charged with one count of assault and of being a felon carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
But according to sources close to the situation, Jackson's stay behind bars was cut short on Wednesday when he was mistakenly released after a court appearance.
Per TMZ, the Sheriff's department says Jackson was the beneficiary of a clerical error
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said on Thursday that Jackson's charges were dismissed during his court appearance - but that they were supposed to be replaced by a superseding grand jury indictment unsealed at his Wednesday hearing.
However, NBC News' sources reportedly claimed that records were not updated properly about the superseding case - and that this resulted in Jackson being freed by mistake.
The robber's online jail records show that he was indeed released on Wednesday, and list the reason as "dismissed". The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (which runs the county’s jail system) is yet to comment on the mix-up.
Per NBC News, officials say Jackson is still free.
In response to the news, Fischer has shared two Instagram Stories with headlines from news sites.
"Lord, grant me the serenity," he writes in one, and "Deep breaths," he writes in the other.
Jackson and his accomplices won international renown last year when, around 9:40PM on the evening of February 24, they stopped and robbed Fischer while he was walking two of Lady Gaga's French bulldogs.
After snatching the little dogs - named Koji and Gustav - the thieves shot and wounded Fischer and fled.
Upon learning that her beloved pets had been taken, House of Gucci star Gaga offered a $500,000 reward for their return. Koji and Gustav were later returned.
Per Los Angeles police, the robbers had no knowledge of who's dogs they were stealing when they approached Fischer that evening. The pooches were targetted because - as a popular breed - they were presumed to fetch a high price.