Ivanna Lisette Ortiz is accused of firing a semiautomatic rifle at the singer’s Los Angeles mansion at 13:15 local time (21:15 GMT) on Sunday.
No one was injured in the shooting. Ortiz is being held on bail set at $1.875m (£1.395m), facing a possible life sentence.
Police are investigating the motive for the attack that took place while Rihanna and her rapper partner A$AP Rocky were at the home, the BBC’s US news partner CBS reports.
Ortiz has been accused of driving up to the front of the house and firing the weapon multiple times at it, before fleeing.
Her white Tesla was located about eight miles (12km) from the singer’s home at the Sherman Oaks Galleria shopping centre, where the woman was taken into custody.
“Opening fire in any populated neighbourhood is extremely dangerous, puts lives at risk and will be fully prosecuted,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said.
Prosecutors noted that there were people in Rihanna’s home as well as the property adjacent to it at the time of the shooting.
