In the early morning hours of October 19, 2020, a night of socializing at an after-hours club in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx turned tragic for 19-year-old Wendolin Ortiz. The young woman was inside the Mixtec club on Jerome Avenue when gunfire erupted around 7 a.m., chaos and fear sending patrons scrambling for safety. Amid the mayhem, Ortiz was struck by a bullet to her torso. Two other men, aged 28 and 30, were also wounded in the shooting but were in stable condition.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and transported all three victims to St. Barnabas Hospital, but sadly, Wendolin Ortiz could not be saved and was pronounced deceased.
Investigators quickly determined that the shooting stemmed from an argument at the bar and that Ortiz was an innocent bystander, not the intended target of the violence that cut her life short. The senseless act of violence sent shockwaves through the community, highlighting the dangers of illegal nightclubs and the ongoing issue of gun violence in the city. Witnesses described a party atmosphere with a DJ and a crowd of 20 to 30 people just before the fatal shots were fired. Surveillance footage from the area captured people fleeing the scene in the immediate aftermath of the triple shooting.
The investigation into the death of Wendolin Ortiz led police to identify a suspect, Domingo Berroa. In a swift move to evade justice, Berroa purchased a one-way ticket to the Dominican Republic. However, his escape attempt was foiled. Just a day after the shooting, authorities apprehended him at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he was attempting to board his flight. Berroa was taken into custody and subsequently charged with murder for the death of Ortiz and criminal possession of a weapon.
Following his arrest, Domingo Berroa faced the consequences of his actions in a court of law. After a jury trial, he was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. In November 2025, a Bronx Supreme Court Justice sentenced Berroa to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of Wendolin Ortiz. He also received a concurrent sentence of 10 years in prison with five years of post-release supervision for the weapons charge. The sentencing brought a measure of closure to a case that tragically ended a young woman's life, a life lost not in a targeted act, but as a result of a reckless dispute that she had no part in.
