Family, friends devastated after Ottawa woman killed in Saskatoon nightclub brawl

An Ottawa family is grieving the loss of a 23-year-old woman who was killed at a nightclub in Saskatoon early Saturday morning.

Hodan Hashi died after a bloody altercation at the LIT Nightclub just before 3 a.m.  Saskatoon police say the incident involved another woman who was known to her. Paige Theriault-Fisher, 22, has been charged with manslaughter.

A family member in Ottawa told CBC Hashi had moved to Saskatoon in the summer of 2021, following her graduation from Sir Robert Borden High School.

According to the relative, Hashi's family had lived in Saskatoon for a year in 2015 and Hashi wanted to return to a familiar place to pursue her higher education.

She was working in the city, they said, and was set to attend Saskatchewan Polytechnic in January to pursue studies in early childhood education. 

"It's really devastating that she was taken away from us just like that," a friend who did not want to be named told CBC in messages exchanged over social media. "She would always have your back no matter what."

Hashi was one of nine siblings, the relative said. 

"She was truly loved … and had so many people who knew and loved her."

Hashi's friend wrote to CBC, describing her as "a sweet, loving and kind young girl with a lot of ambitions [who] never failed to put a smile on my face."

"She does not deserve what happened to her."

Video footage provided to CBC shows events leading up to Hashi's death.

Two women can be seen wrestling each other while onlookers watch. Hooting and shouting can be heard in the background as both women fall to the ground. One repeatedly strikes the other in the face and neck as her head bashes against the floor.

Over the speaker system, a person can be heard saying, "We have a b---h fight on the dance floor."

Then, as the two women roll on the floor in the tussle, a pool of blood emerges beneath the woman identified in the video as Hashi.