LOS ANGELES — A woman accused of opening fire at Rihanna’s Los Angeles home pleaded not guilty Wednesday to attempted murder and 13 other felony charges after prosecutors said she sprayed the property with about 20 rounds while the singer, A$AP Rocky and their family were inside. A newly public police report says bullets struck an Airstream trailer where Rihanna and Rocky were during the gunfire, authorities said Wednesday, March 25.
Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, 35, entered the plea in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to Reuters, the judge kept bail at $1.875 million after rejecting a defense request to lower it, and Ortiz could face life in prison if convicted. Reuters also reported that the court barred her from working as a licensed speech therapist in California while the case is pending.
Rihanna home shooting: what the police report says
The Associated Press reported that Rihanna told detectives Rocky had been asleep in the rear of the trailer parked in the driveway when she heard about 10 loud metallic bangs and saw bullet holes in the front window. The report says two bullets struck the double-paned window without going through, a third appeared to hit the trailer’s side, and another bullet hole was found on an exterior wall near the children’s nursery.
Prosecutors allege Ortiz pulled up in a white Tesla outside the Beverly Crest property on March 8 and fired multiple times toward the home and a neighboring residence. When charges were announced earlier this month, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said no one on Rihanna’s property or at the adjacent house was hit by gunfire.
Ortiz is charged with one count of attempted murder, 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and three counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle or dwelling. Prosecutors have not publicly laid out a motive, saying only that they are still examining Ortiz’s background and social media activity.
How the case reached this point
The not-guilty plea is the latest turn in a case that moved quickly after Reuters’ initial March 9 report said a woman had fired numerous shots at the property and that at least one round went through a wall. Two days later, an AP court update from March 11 reported that prosecutors said Rihanna, Rocky, their three children and Rihanna’s mother were all on the property when the shots were fired.
Wednesday’s hearing did not answer why prosecutors believe Ortiz targeted the home, but the newly public police report has now added the clearest public account yet of how close the gunfire came to Rihanna, Rocky and the children inside the property.
