'She was just magnetic': Family mourns Ottawa life lost in Dominican club collapse

A young woman who spent years in Ottawa is one of the victims of the recent nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic. 

The Jet Set club in the capital of Santo Domingo was packed for a performance April 8 when the roof caved in.

The cause of the collapse is still under investigation, but the search for bodies has been completed and 221 people were killed.

One of those who died was 24-year-old Sheila Berroa, a Dominican citizen who had been living in Ottawa since 2018, when she moved to join family.

She eventually studied business at Algonquin College and was recently managing a Planet Fitness location.

"She was very much involved in her community back in Ottawa, especially at her local church through volunteering with the children, and greatly contributed to her friends and family," said her brother Franclin Berroa in a message to CBC News.

He added that she was a loving aunt and that her loss is tragic.

"We are all greatly shocked [by] her loss, and these effects will be with us all for the rest of our lives. She was lovely, kind, a hard worker — every community and person she got involved with loved Sheila." 

She didn't want to return, says long-term boyfriend

Berroa was trying to extend her work permit to be able to stay in Ottawa, but was denied early this year and had to return to the Dominican Republic.

"[She was] a young person that had a bright life ahead. She was basically forced to move out of Canada literally one month before this tragedy," her brother said.

The stress of her having to leave led to the end of her four-year relationship with Saul Mendoza.

They had lost touch when she moved back to the Dominican Republic in March. The day after the collapse, he said he got the call from her brother that she had died.

He was still in shock when he spoke to CBC Thursday while on his way to attend her funeral in the Dominican. 

"She had her whole life ahead of her; she had so many hopes and dreams that she shared with me. She wanted her family, she wanted to be a mother, she wanted so many things for her life and her life was cut short, and it's difficult to accept that; very difficult to accept," Mendoza said.

He said he is grateful for the time he spent with Berroa and will hold on to memories of their travels and how she taught him to dance. 

"She was just magnetic," Mendoza said

"I just fell in love with who she was, the way that she loved on other people, the way she cared and looked after other people, the way she, you know, focused on good things like good values, coming from a good heart."

The funeral service will be held on Saturday.