Rhode Island authorities said a transgender father took aim at his own family in Monday’s mass shooting at a high school hockey tournament that left two dead and three fighting for their lives.
Pawtucket police identified the gunman as Robert Dorgan, a 56-year-old who also went by Roberta Esposito, who shot his ex-wife, his three kids and a family friend at the game.
Dorgan’s ex-wife died at the ice rink, while one of his children died at a hospital. The shooter took his own life to end the carnage that erupted around 2:30 p.m. Monday.
Court documents obtained by Providence’s WPRI-TV showed Dorgan’s gender identity led to several hostile incidents with his in-laws.
The filing said Dorgan went to police in early 2020 to say his recent sex change operation caused his father-in-law, whom he was living with, to demand he move out. Dorgan lived at the home for the past seven years.
The father-in-law threatened to have Dorgan “murdered by an Asian street gang” if he didn’t pack his things and go, the documents said.
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The father-in-law was charged with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system, but those charges were dropped by prosecutors.
Also in 2020, Dorgan accused his mother of assaulting him, according to court records. She was charged with simple assault, battery and disorderly conduct following Dorgan’s contact with police.
Dorgan reported that his father-in-law told him that if he “did not drop the assault charges against my mother that further retaliation could be expected and that was another reason to have me killed.”
The assault charges against the mother were later dismissed.
Dorgan’s wife filed for divorce in 2020 as well, the documents said, and cited “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits” as the reasons to end their union.
The ex-wife scratched out those grounds for divorce and instead put down “irreconcilable differences” that caused the marriage to fall apart, according to court records. The divorce was finalized in June 2021.
One of Dorgan’s children was a senior at North Providence High School and was playing in the hockey tournament at the rink where he launched his attack.
Branden Mello, the sports editor for Pawtucket’s Times, said the shooter sat in the top row of the stands at Dennis M. Lynch Arena before moving down and opening fire on people sitting near the front.
Mr. Mello said another father in the stands grabbed the weapon from the shooter, but the gunman had a second firearm and pulled that out to continue his rampage.
The gunman fired nearly a dozen shots as spectators and skaters ducked for cover.
“We were just trying to be safe. We were trying to see if everyone was all good and if everyone was safe. Just to get everyone on the door,” Olin Lawrence, a goalkeeper for Coventry High School, told CBS News. “We pressed against the door and just tried to stay safe down in there. It was very scary. We were very nervous. It was a lot of shots.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency’s Boston Field Office is helping local authorities with their investigation.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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