Before Ivanna Lisette Ortiz became the woman accused of opening fire on Rihanna’s Los Angeles home, friends remembered a very different person.

She sang in a church choir. She preferred Christian music. She worked as a speech-language pathologist and ran her own clinic in Florida. She was a mother who loved taking her daughter to the movies.

Then, prosecutors say, Ortiz drove across the country, arrived at the superstar’s Beverly Crest property with an AR-15-style rifle and opened fire while Rihanna, A$AP Rocky and members of their family were there.

No one was injured.

Six months later, Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to 14 felony charges, including attempted murder, and criminal proceedings have been interrupted by a court-ordered examination of whether she is mentally competent to stand trial.

But one question remains at the center of the case:

Why?

Authorities have not publicly presented a complete motive explaining how a Florida speech pathologist with no publicly known personal relationship to Rihanna allegedly ended up outside the singer’s home with a loaded rifle.

A new CNN investigation into Ortiz’s life has provided the clearest picture yet of what happened before the shooting — but it has also made the story more complicated.

Gunfire at Rihanna’s Home

The shooting occurred on the afternoon of March 8.

Prosecutors allege that Ortiz, then 35, went to Rihanna’s Beverly Crest-area property and fired repeatedly with a semiautomatic rifle.

Rihanna, whose legal name is Robyn Fenty, and her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, were inside an Airstream trailer on the property when bullets struck it. Their three children, Rihanna’s mother and staff members were also at the property, according to prosecutors.

A neighboring residence was struck as well.

Remarkably, no one was injured.

According to a police report obtained by CNN before it was sealed, investigators said Ortiz fired at least 10 shots toward the front gate. Rihanna later told investigators that after the shooting stopped, she looked through a curtain and saw bullet holes in the trailer’s glass, realizing she had been standing in the line of fire.

Other reports have described as many as 20 shots being fired, but the police material cited in CNN’s September investigation specifically described at least 10.

Ortiz was arrested later that day in Sherman Oaks.

Police said a loaded AR-15-style rifle, partially covered by a purple blanket, was found on the passenger-side floor of the mud-covered white Tesla she had been driving.

“I Wasn’t Attempting Murder”

One of the most striking details emerged from what Ortiz allegedly told investigators after her arrest.

According to the police report cited by CNN, she said:

“I would like to say that I wasn’t attempting murder.”

That statement is notable because attempted murder became the most serious allegation prosecutors brought against her.

Ortiz was ultimately charged with 14 felony counts, including one count of attempted murder involving Rihanna, 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and three counts involving gunfire at inhabited structures or a vehicle.

She has pleaded not guilty.

If convicted on all charges, she could face life in state prison.

The charges remain allegations, and prosecutors would have to prove Ortiz’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt if the case reaches trial.

The Question of Motive

From the beginning, the most puzzling aspect of the case has been the apparent absence of an obvious personal connection between Ortiz and Rihanna.

Prosecutors have not publicly announced a complete motive.

But records reviewed by CNN suggest that Rihanna had increasingly appeared in Ortiz’s thoughts and communications in the months before the shooting.

CNN found a YouTube account appearing to belong to Ortiz containing more than 100 videos in which she read from a prayer journal. In at least several of those recordings, she discussed Rihanna and made claims suggesting that she believed the singer was targeting or interfering with her.

In one video, according to CNN, Ortiz said she believed Rihanna wanted to kill her. In another, she referred to what she described as Rihanna’s “intrusive” spirit.

Court records also showed that in January, roughly two months before the shooting, Ortiz emailed her former husband and demanded that he “renounce” Rihanna and acknowledge that Ortiz was better than the singer.

Those communications may help explain prosecutors’ interest in Ortiz’s apparent focus on Rihanna.

They do not, however, establish a legal motive by themselves, nor do they resolve questions about Ortiz’s mental state.

That issue has now become central to whether the prosecution can proceed at all.

A Case Halted Over Competency

In May, Ortiz’s defense raised concerns about whether she was legally competent to stand trial.

Competency is different from determining whether someone was legally responsible for an alleged crime.

The issue is whether a defendant currently understands the proceedings and can meaningfully assist attorneys in preparing a defense.

On May 13, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Shannon K. Cooley initially declined to suspend the case, saying there was not substantial evidence of incompetence at that point.

Six days later, however, the situation changed.

After Ortiz’s public defender again raised concerns and met privately with the judge, Cooley formally declared a doubt about Ortiz’s competency and suspended criminal proceedings so that she could undergo evaluation through the mental health court system.

That decision means the criminal case cannot simply move toward trial until the competency question is resolved.

As of September, CNN reported that Ortiz remained in custody while undergoing evaluations, with the process having been delayed several times. Her next competency hearing was expected on Sept. 29.

The Woman Friends Remembered Before the Case

CNN’s September investigation added another layer by reconstructing Ortiz’s life long before the shooting.

Friends recalled a young woman known as “Ivy” who regularly attended Lighthouse Church in Florida, joined youth-group trips and sang in the choir on Wednesdays and Sundays.

“She was always positive,” one former acquaintance told CNN.

Ortiz later became a licensed speech pathologist and operated the Orlando Speech Clinic. She became a mother and frequently posted about her daughter.

Former friends and relatives told CNN that they began noticing significant changes in Ortiz years later, particularly after a serious 2021 car crash and amid an increasingly difficult custody dispute involving her daughter.

Those accounts are personal observations, not medical findings, and they do not establish what Ortiz’s mental condition was at the time of the alleged shooting.

But they help explain why the competency proceedings have become such an important part of the case.

Two Questions Now Hang Over the Case

The criminal allegations against Ortiz are extraordinary on their own.

Prosecutors say a woman from Florida traveled to Rihanna’s Los Angeles home, arrived with a rifle and fired into a property occupied by the singer, A$AP Rocky, their children and others.

Yet six months later, the case is about more than the gunfire.

Investigators and prosecutors must still establish what motivated the alleged attack.

And before a jury can weigh the attempted-murder charge, the court must determine whether Ortiz is legally competent to participate in the case against her.

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have not publicly discussed the incident in detail.

Ortiz continues to deny the criminal allegations through her not-guilty plea.

For now, the most dramatic facts are known: the rifle, the gunfire, the occupied home and the arrest that followed.

The hardest part to explain remains everything that came before them.