Woman Pleads Not Guilty In Shooting At Rihanna's LA Home

LOS ANGELES, CA — A woman accused of opening fire at Rihanna's Beverly Crest-area residence while the singer was home with her partner and children pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a grand jury indictment charging her with 14 counts, including attempted murder.

The indictment against Ivanna Lisette Ortiz was unsealed Wednesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, one day after she was found mentally competent to stand trial.

Ortiz, 36, is charged with one count of attempted murder involving Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, along with 10 counts of assault with an assault weapon, two counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling and one count of shooting at an inhabited vehicle, as well as allegations that she personally and intentionally discharged a rifle, involving the alleged crimes March 8.

"This is a person who wanted to kill Rihanna. Everyone else was collateral damage," Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott said outside court after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette Verastegui unsealed the indictment.

Ortiz had been charged in March with nearly identical counts — with the assault with a semiautomatic firearm subsequently being upgraded to assault with an assault weapon in the indictment. The earlier case was dismissed as a result of the indictment.

She was ordered to remain jailed in lieu of more than $2.6 million bail, and is due back in court Oct. 29 for a pretrial hearing.

During a March 25 court hearing, the prosecutor said Ortiz fired about 20 rounds from an assault-style rifle and aimed the gunfire at an area where adults and children were present, "putting numerous lives at risk." He called her alleged conduct "extremely dangerous," and said Ortiz was subsequently found in a vehicle with a rifle, ammunition and a disguise — a wig.

A Los Angeles Police Department document, which was attached to the request from the California Attorney General's Office to bar Ortiz from practicing speech-language pathology, alleges that Ortiz drove a white Tesla Model 3 to the neighborhood and fired at least 20 rounds at the occupied residences. The document indicates that police discovered bullet holes or impacts on the exterior of the gate of Rihanna's residence, a wooden fence, the front windshield of an Airstream trailer, a patio area and on the exterior wall of a "nursery room," and also observed bullet impacts to a neighboring residence.

Rihanna told police she was in the Airstream trailer with her partner - - rapper A$AP Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, who was sleeping. She said she heard approximately 10 loud sounds like something banging on metal, according to an LAPD follow-up report. She told police she opened the curtains after the noise stopped, and noticed bullet holes in the windshield directly in front of where she was standing, grabbed Mayers out of bed, told him they were being shot at and pushed both of them to the ground before they ran into the garage of their residence and went to "secure" their children and staff, according to the report.

Police said the singer told them she had received death threats over social media in the past, but most had never risen to a serious level, according to the document.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters in March that the Orlando, Florida, woman is accused of driving up to Rihanna's home just west of Beverly Hills at about 1:20 p.m. March 8 and firing multiple times from her semi-automatic weapon at the residence.

"Rihanna was there with her partner, her three children, her mother and two staff people, representing eight of the 10 of the counts of dealing with an assault with a semi-automatic firearm," Hochman said then, noting there are two dwellings at Rihanna's residence, including the Airstream trailer containing Rihanna and Mayers.

"In addition, Miss Ortiz is accused of firing at a neighboring residence that had two additional individuals," the district attorney said. He noted then that Ortiz's alleged motivation was still under investigation.

"Law enforcement will be looking at any videos on social media, at any additional evidence that they can uncover to both understand her motivation and why she did these particular acts," Hochman said. "Law enforcement is in the process of gathering all evidence of motivation, any connections between the defendant and Rihanna if any so exist or why this particular defendant decided to open up and shoot her semi-automatic rifle on the afternoon of March 8."

The district attorney said the woman then traveled through Beverly Hills and eventually ended up in Sherman Oaks, and was arrested "within hours" at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, where allegedly a weapon was recovered. He lauded the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills police departments for their prompt actions leading to Ortiz's arrest.

LAPD Capt. Mike Bland told reporters that the weapon was an AR-15- style rifle.

There were no reports of injuries.

Ortiz was ordered March 10 not to have any contact with Rihanna or Mayers. She was subsequently also directed not to practice as a speech-language pathologist in California, where she has been licensed since 2016, while the criminal case is pending.

If convicted, she could face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the district attorney said.

Ortiz had once been involuntarily committed and lost custody of her then 10-year-old child, TMZ reported.

On what is believed to be Ortiz's Facebook page, there were multiple videos and posts making reference to celebrities including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and Cardi B.

One post from last February tags Rihanna, and said Ortiz was waiting for the singer "to say something to me directly instead of sneaking around like you talking to me where I'm not at."

She referenced the singer again in a December post that states, "I'm already threw (sic) with Rihanna, Your turn hiding (expletive), Stop begging for a look."

In another video, she said Rihanna wants to kill her.

By Terri Vermeulen Keith, City News Service