A 36-year-old Florida woman was indicted Wednesday for allegedly using an assault rifle to spray bullets at Rihanna’s Los Angeles home earlier this year, nearly striking the singer and her husband.
Ivanna Ortiz will stand trial on one count of attempted murder and 10 counts of assault and three counts of shooting at an inhabited home, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday morning.
The indictment was returned by a grand jury in June, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, but proceedings against Ortiz had been delayed for months after her public defender declared a doubt in May about her mental health. Ortiz, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, tried to fire her defense attorney during the same hearing.
A judge found Ortiz competent to stand trialon Tuesday during a hearing at the Hollywood mental health court.
Authorities say Ortiz raked Rihanna’s home and an Airstream trailer parked on her Beverly Crest property with bullets from an assault rifle on March 8. The singer was home at the time with her husband, hip-hop star A$AP Rocky, their children and her mother.
The pop star told police that she and Rocky were sleeping inside the Airstream when she “suddenly heard approximately ten loud sounds like something banging on metal,” according to a police report made public as part of a court filing earlier this year.
Rihanna said she grabbed Rocky “out of bed, told him they were being shot at and pushed both of them to the ground,” according to the report. There were three bullet impacts against the windshield and side of the Airstream, but none of the rounds penetrated the vehicle, the report said.
“Every person deserves to feel safe in and around their home,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “Shooting at an occupied home is a serious, violent crime that is both reckless and dangerous. It is pure luck and not a matter of restraint that no one was killed or injured.”
Police arrested Ortiz in Sherman Oaks about an hour after the shooting. She was driving the same white Tesla she was alleged to have opened fire from, and officers recovered a black Springfield Armory rifle and two 30-round rifle magazines, which she owned legally, according to the police report.
Ortiz, who is due back in court in late October, remains jailed in lieu of $2.65 million. She previously told detectives she “wasn’t attempting murder,” when she opened fire, according to the police report.
While prosecutors have not offered a motive in the shooting, Ortiz made several angry posts about the singer the month before the alleged attack.
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