On the quiet afternoon of March 8, Los Angeles was startled to learn that . With the memory of Sunday three months ago, many feared the worst. The artist and her family were inside the residence, but the dozen bullets hit the walls, and only one reached the interior, causing no damage. Now, two weeks later, the perpetrator has gone through the Los Angeles courts and has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges, including attempted murder.
This Wednesday, Ivana Lisette Ortiz, 35 years old and native of Orlando, Florida, faced her court hearing. Ortiz already went to court a couple of days after the shooting, on March 11, when his public defender presented a not guilty plea, but decided to withdraw it until the arraignment. The most serious is attempted murder, for shooting numerous times with a semi-automatic rifle at a home in Beverly Crest, one of the most exclusive areas of the Californian city. Rihanna (38 years old), her partner, her three children (six months, two years and almost four) and her mother, as well as two members of the singer’s team and two neighbors, were inside her house.
This March 25, the accused has once again stated that she is not guilty. Ortiz faces up to 14 charges: in addition to attempted murder with a firearm, he is accused of three felonies for shooting at a home and another 10 felonies for assault with a semi-automatic firearm. For the moment, he will remain in prison, with a bail of 1,875,000 dollars (which was lowered from the 10 million initially requested). His lawyers have asked that it be reduced to $70,000, a figure more appropriate to his financial capacity, but the judge this time has denied the request.
Ortiz’s motives and past are unknown, what led her to, it is believed, arrive in her car from Florida, more than 4,000 kilometers away, to the doors of the vocalist’s house. “As far as I know, this person drove here from Florida. How long has he been in the area… I don’t have that information,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell a few days ago. “They are investigating it. That would be part of the reason why the person came here. We have not yet determined the reason, but we know and are aware of some social media posts that are being investigated further.”
It is unknown if Ortiz had any personal or professional relationship, present or past, with Rihanna. It is only known that he had made reference to it in a Facebook post. “Tell me something directly instead of sneaking around like you’re talking to me where I’m not,” he had recently written. After the shooting, he fled and drove to another area of the city, to Sherman Oaks, about 12 kilometers to the north. After receiving a call to the emergency services, she was arrested just half an hour later.
Los Angeles County Prosecutor Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement after the incident that “opening fire in any inhabited neighborhood is extremely dangerous, puts lives at risk and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” “Fortunately,” it continued, “no one was injured in this shooting, but this reckless violence will not be tolerated in our community. The perpetrators of these types of shootings will find their next destination is our jails and prisons.”
