A shooting at a Rhode Island hockey rink on Monday afternoon left two people dead and three others critically injured, sending shockwaves through the state and the nation.
The gunshots rang out around 2:30 p.m. at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, approximately five miles outside of Providence.
CBS News said that Police Chief Tina Goncalves identified the shooter as Robert Dorgan, born in 1969, who also used the name Roberta and the last name Esposito.
WPRI reported that Goncalves said the shooting was targeted and is believed to have stemmed from a family dispute, though she stressed it remained under investigation.
The others fatally shot were the student’s mother and sister.
Three other members of the student’s family were hospitalized and listed in critical condition after being shot.
Goncalves publicly named the suspect during a Monday night news conference.
“We have identified the person, the suspect, by a birth name, the birth name was Robert Dorgan,” Goncalves said.
“We have also learned that the person does go by the name of Roberta, also uses a last name of Esposito.”
The attack took place at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, an indoor skating rink.
The “Senior Night” game being played when the shooting occurred pitted the Coventry-Johnston co-op team against the four institutions that are part of the Blackstone Valley Schools team: St. Raphael Academy, Providence Country Day School, and the public school districts of North Providence and North Smithfield.
News Nation Now reported that Dorgan was the father of a North Providence High School student whose game was being played at the time of the attack.
According to court filings obtained by local station WPRI, Dorgan reportedly underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2020.
His ex-wife filed for divorce that same year, citing “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits,” before that language was later replaced with “irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage.”
Their divorce was finalized in 2021, per the outlet.
Also in 2020, Dorgan reported to North Providence Police that his father-in-law wanted him removed from the family home because of his gender reassignment surgery.
Dorgan told police his father-in-law used a slur for transgender people, saying no such person was “going to stay in my house.”
Dorgan also claimed his father-in-law threatened to “have him murdered by an Asian street gang if he did not move out of the residence,” where he had lived for seven years, according to court documents obtained by WPRI.
The night before the shooting, an X account widely linked to Dorgan responded to an anti-trans post, writing, “keep bashing us. but do not wonder why we Go BERSERK.”
In a separate exchange in the same thread, Dorgan also appeared to write: “stfu Alex dont be so butt hurtt over somebody different. then wonder why trans ppl go fkn BERSERK.”
Newsweek reported that the X account by the name of Roberta Dorgano in Rhode Island follows, reposts, and replies to a host of conservative accounts, including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes.
WPRI said that police praised a “Good Samaritan” who stepped in and “attempted to subdue” Dorgan. Witnesses said the man — the father of another hockey player — disarmed Dorgan, but Dorgan had a backup firearm, both of which police retrieved at the scene.
“A Good Samaritan stepped in, interjected and attempted to subdue the suspect,” Goncalves said.
Rhode Island Hospital received four patients from the shooting; one deceased and three others in critical condition, according to Kelly Brennan, a spokesperson for Brown University Health.
A woman seen leaving the Pawtucket police station and identified as Dorgan’s daughter said her father “has mental health issues” and was “very sick.”
“He shot my family, and he’s dead now,” she said.
Pawtucket police had not had any prior interactions with Dorgan, according to Goncalves.
