Rihanna Shooting Suspect Declared Competent to Stand Trial

A woman accused of spraying bullets at Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s home, hitting a trailer the celebrity couple was inside and a nursery their kids were in, was found mentally competent by a judge on Tuesday to stand trial.

via: Rolling Stone

The woman accused of firing 20 rounds from an AR-15-style rifle at Rihanna’s Los Angeles home, allegedly striking an exterior wall of a nursery and the windshield of an Airstream trailer occupied by the singer and her partner, A$AP Rocky, has been found competent to stand trial.

Ivanna Ortiz, 36, appeared in court Tuesday wearing a yellow jail uniform and handcuffs as Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Maria Cavalluzzi informed the parties she had received a Sept. 23, 2026, report from Dr. Phani Tumu. Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott and Deputy Public Defender Derek Dillman said they did not contest its findings.

“Based on the evidence, the court finds the defendant is presently competent to stand trial,” Judge Cavalluzzi said as Ortiz looked on and appeared to be smiling at times. “Criminal proceedings are reinstated.”

When the judge said she would transfer the case back to a downtown Los Angeles courtroom that handles felony probable-cause hearings, Bott asked instead that the parties be ordered to appear before the supervising judge of criminal operations.

“Why are we doing this?” Judge Cavalluzzi asked.

“I can’t say, due to the nature of the proceedings, but they will be informed tomorrow,” Bott replied.

The supervising judge’s department is sometimes used as an initial stop for cases involving grand jury indictments. Grand jury proceedings are secret, but if an indictment is returned, it’s generally unsealed when prosecutors bring the defendant into court for arraignment. It was not immediately clear whether Ortiz was expected to face such a proceeding Wednesday.

Before she was referred to mental health court for an evaluation, Ortiz 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, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, were inside the Airstream trailer parked outside the home when Rihanna heard “approximately ten loud sounds like something banging on metal.” She opened the curtains and “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,” Rihanna warned as she pulled Mayers to the floor, the report said. The couple then ran into the garage and moved quickly to secure their children and staff, police said.

At an earlier hearing, Bott called the incident “an extremely dangerous deliberate shooting in occupied homes.” He said the gunfire lasted several seconds and could have been deadly. “This was calculated conduct,” Bott previously told the court. “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 neighborhood, putting numerous lives at risk.” He argued that the shooting “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 area. 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 and a seventh in a pedestrian gate, according to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone. Inside the property, police found three bullet holes in a wooden fence obscured 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 attack. 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 practicing while the criminal case is pending, including through sentencing and any appeal. A different judge granted the request.