LOS ANGELES — A Florida woman accused of driving across the country to fire a rifle at Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s home, hitting a trailer the celebrity couple was inside and a daycare where their children were, has been indicted by a grand jury on 14 felony counts including attempted murder.
The indictment against 36-year-old Ivanna Lisette Ortiz of Orlando was unsealed Wednesday by a judge.
Ortiz, appearing in court wearing a yellow prison uniform, spoke only to her attorney, who entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. The judge then ordered her held on $2.6 million bail.
The move came a day after another judge ruled that Ortiz is mentally competent to stand trial. The grand jury’s proceedings were held in secret as the woman underwent months of psychiatric evaluation, and the case that appeared stalled – possibly permanently – is now on the fast track to trial.
“This is a person who wanted to kill Rihanna,” Assistant District Attorney Alexander Bott said outside court. “Everyone else was collateral damage.”
Ortiz was previously charged in March with the attempted murder of Rihanna and more than a dozen other felony charges, and has pleaded not guilty. No one was hurt, but bullets went through the Airstream trailer that housed the singing superstar and A$AP Rocky at the time. Bullets also hit the wall of their nursery where their three small children were with their nanny.
The grand jury indictment supersedes the original charges. And the secret proceedings allow prosecutors to interfere with California’s preliminary hearing process, where evidence must be presented publicly to determine whether a trial is warranted.
The indictment also charges Ortiz with 10 counts of assault with an assault weapon and three counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling or camper. She could face life in prison if convicted of all counts.
Reports of the psychiatric evaluations that ended the case shortly after it began were sealed, and there was no public discussion of the details of her mental state. Prosecutors have not said anything about a motive or cited any connection between Rihanna and Ortiz, a longtime licensed psychologist with no prior criminal record.
Authorities allege she drove a Tesla from Orlando to Rihanna and her rapper partner A$AP Rocky’s Beverly Hills home on March 8, pointed an AR-15-style rifle out the window and fired at least 20 rounds toward the building and the house next door.
Investigators found bullet holes in the trailer and on the outside wall of the home’s second-floor nursery, where the children and nanny were present. Rihanna’s mother and several workers were also in the home.
Investigators said that after her arrest later that day, Ortiz told them: “I wasn’t trying to murder.”
A nine-time Grammy Award winner, Rihanna has 14 number 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Found Love,” “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Diturbia.”