LOS ANGELES: The Beverly Hills residence of Barbadian pop star Rihanna was struck by gunfire in a suspected drive-by shooting on Sunday afternoon, police said.
Authorities said the singer whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty was inside the property when a suspect allegedly fired multiple rounds from a passing vehicle at around 1:21pm.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officers responding to emergency calls discovered bullet holes in the mansion’s front gates and in a motorhome parked on the driveway. Investigators said at least 10 rounds were fired from a vehicle parked across the street.
A 30-year-old woman was arrested roughly 30 minutes after the incident following a police pursuit. Officers said the suspect, who was driving a white Tesla, was tracked by a police helicopter as the vehicle travelled south along Coldwater Canyon Drive before stopping near a shopping centre in Sherman Oaks, about seven miles from the scene.
Police said the suspect was taken into custody without incident. During a search of the vehicle, officers recovered an assault rifle and several shell casings.
Armen Arias, a spokesman for the LAPD, said officers located “an assault rifle and seven casings” in the vehicle after detaining the suspect.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
It remains unclear whether Rihanna’s partner, American rapper ASAP Rocky, and their three children — two sons aged two and three and a five-month-old daughter were present at the residence at the time.
Representatives for the singer had not issued an official comment as of late Sunday.
Police said the motive behind the shooting remains under investigation, with the LAPD’s robbery-homicide division — which handles high-profile cases leading the probe.
Rihanna’s properties have previously been targeted by intruders. In 2018, a man from Fullerton, California, broke into her home in the Hollywood Hills after jumping over a fence and remained inside the residence for nearly 12 hours before being discovered by the singer’s assistant the following day.
