A 35-year-old woman from Orlando, Florida was charged with attempted murder following a shooting at the home of pop superstar Rihanna, prosecutors said.
Ivanna Lisette Ortiz is accused of firing a semiautomatic rifle at the singer’s Los Angeles mansion at 13:15 local time (21:15 GMT) on Sunday.
No one was injured in the shooting. Ortiz is being held on bail set at $1.875m (£1.395m), facing a possible life sentence.
Police are investigating the motive for the attack that took place while Rihanna and her rapper partner A$AP Rocky were at the home, the BBC’s US news partner CBS reported.
Ortiz has been accused of driving up to the front of the house and firing the weapon multiple times at it, before fleeing.
Her white Tesla was located about eight miles (12km) from the singer’s home at the Sherman Oaks Galleria shopping centre, where the woman was taken into custody.
“Opening fire in any populated neighbourhood is extremely dangerous, puts lives at risk and will be fully prosecuted,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said.
Prosecutors noted that there were people in Rihanna’s home as well as the property adjacent to it at the time of the shooting.
“This careless violence will not be tolerated in our community. Such shooters will find their next destination to be our jails and prisons,” Hochman added.
Ortiz faces multiple other charges including ten felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and three felony counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling or camper.
According to CBS, the LAPD has found a series of posts on her social media mentioning Rihanna.
In one post on X, Ortiz wrote: “Are you there? … say something to me directly instead of sneaking around like you talking to me where I’m not at.”
Video from the singer’s address shows suitcases being wheeled away on the day after the shooting.
The Barbados-born celebrity, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, rose to prominence in the early 2000s with hits like Pon de Replay and Umbrella.
She shares three children with partner A$AP Rocky, who last February was found not guilty of firing a gun at a former friend, in a trial that saw Rihanna bring her two sons to court.
By BBC News
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