The woman accused of firing 20 shots from an AR-15-style rifle at Rihanna’s Los Angeles home, prompting the singer to push A$AP Rocky to the ground for cover, had her attempted murder case suspended Tuesday.
Judge Shannon Cooley halted the case against Ivanna Ortiz, 35, after meeting privately with a public defender and finding enough evidence to question Ortiz’s mental competency, a court source confirmed to Rolling Stone. Ortiz will now be referred to the county’s mental health court for an evaluation and a determination on whether she can understand the proceedings against her.
Judge Cooley appointed a psychiatrist to examine Ortiz and prepare a report, according to a minute order released after the hearing. Ortiz’s first date in Mental Health Court was set for June 2.
The Tuesday ruling came a week after Cooley denied a similar request by the same defence lawyer, saying there was not enough evidence at the time to override Ortiz’s demand to go to trial. Ortiz appeared in custody last week but was not brought into court on Tuesday.
Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to one count of attempted murder, 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and three counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling. Prosecutors say she drove to Rihanna’s home on March 8 and fired the rounds while the property was occupied by the famous couple, their three young children, and Rihanna’s mother.
According to a police report obtained by Rolling Stone, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, given name Rakim Mayers, were inside an Airstream trailer parked outside the home when Rihanna heard “approximately ten loud sounds like something banging on metal.” She opened the curtains, “observed bullet holes in the windshield directly in front of where she had been standing,” then “grabbed Rakim out of bed, told him they were being shot at, and pushed both of them to the ground,” the report said.
“They shooting at us,” the Grammy-winning singer and beauty mogul allegedly said as she forced Mayers to the floor. The couple then ran into the garage and rushed to secure their children and staff, the report said.
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At a prior hearing, Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott called the incident “an extremely dangerous deliberate shooting in occupied homes.” He said the shooting lasted several seconds and could have been deadly.
“This was calculated conduct,” Bott said. “She brought a loaded rifle, ammunition, and even a disguise in the form of a wig, which demonstrates planning.”
Bott said Ortiz showed “a willingness to use a high-powered rifle in a residential neighbourhood, putting numerous lives at risk. This is the kind of conduct that could easily have resulted in multiple homicides.”
Witnesses to the March 8 shooting reported seeing a white Tesla Model 3 with a paper license plate fleeing the scene. A police helicopter quickly located the vehicle, leading to Ortiz’s arrest. Investigators later found six bullet holes in the vehicle gate at Rihanna’s home, along with a seventh in a pedestrian gate, court documents obtained by Rolling Stone confirm. Inside the property, police found three bullet holes in a wooden fence covered by tall hedges.
Before the shooting, Ortiz posted erratically on social media, addressing and tagging Rihanna directly. “Listen, Rihanna. When you die, God is taking me to my future. You want to kill me. Shut the fuck up,” she said in a YouTube video titled “Praying Woman’s Journal, Day 39,” posted on Jan. 4, 2026.
Ortiz worked as a licensed speech pathologist in California before the alleged shooting. In a filing obtained by Rolling Stone, an executive officer with the state’s Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology asked the court to bar Ortiz from practising while the criminal case is pending, including through sentencing and any appeal. A different judge granted the request.
From Rolling Stone US
