Rhode Island hockey rink shooting suspect struggled with family issues after gender reassignment surgery: Report
The suspect in a fatal Rhode Island hockey rink shooting struggled with family issues after undergoing gender reassignment surgery, court records show.
Authorities have identified the shooter as Robert Dorgan, 56, who also went by the name “Roberta” and sometimes used the surname “Esposito.” It was also revealed that the shooting appeared to be targeted at the suspect’s family members.
In recent years, Dorgan made multiple complaints to police alleging assaults, intimidation, and threats to kill from different relatives, according to court documents reviewed by local news channel WPRI.
In early 2020, Dorgan underwent gender reassignment surgery, which led to issues within the family, the station reported, citing police documents.
At that time, it was alleged to the North Providence Police Department that Dorgan’s father-in-law had reacted badly to the surgery, ordering Dorgan to leave the family home, and threatening murder “by an Asian street gang” if the suspect remained at the residence, the court records showed.
The father-in-law was also accused of using a derogatory term when saying no transgender person was “going to stay in my house.”
Court records showed the father-in-law was “charged with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system,” WPRI reported, although prosecutors later dismissed the charges.
The breakdown of Dorgan’s marriage came around the same time, with then-wife Rhonda Dorgan filing for divorce on the grounds of “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits.” Those reasons were crossed out on the paperwork, reported WPRI, and replaced with “irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage.”
Their divorce was finalized in June 2021, with paperwork showing Dorgan was by then working as a truck driver and living in Jacksonville, Florida.
Police records showed Dorgan’s mother was also accused of assault and acting in a “violent, threatening or tumultuous manner”; she was charged with simple assault and battery and disorderly conduct, but the case against her was later dismissed.
That case caused further conflict with Dorgan’s father-in-law, court records showed, with Dorgan recounting being told “if I 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 mass shooting at an indoor ice rink in Rhode Island left at least two dead and multiple others injured on Monday night, leaving the Pawtucket community shocked and mourning.
At a late-night press conference, Mayor Donald Grebien asked for the public’s patience as the investigation unfolded, and said police had already interviewed 100 people.
Pawtucket police chief Tina Goncalves asked for information or videos from anyone who was at the hockey game at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena. Early footage from a livestream shows players quickly skating off the ice as gunshots ring out.
There was panic in the crowd as spectators also rushed to safety, with teen Izzy Sousa telling The Providence Journal that “a lot of people were falling to the ground and getting stepped on.”
“When the first three shots went off we all thought it was balloons popping from senior night decorations,” Sousa told the newspaper. “As the bangs kept going off, everyone quickly realized they were gunshots so we all jumped up and basically started a stampede to get out.”
Goncalves said a “good Samaritan stepped in and interjected in this scene, and that’s probably what led to a swift end of this tragic event.” The suspected shooter died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.
In a statement shared on social media on Monday evening, the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence described the situation as “deeply painful.”
“While details are still emerging, we know that violence within families and intimate relationships can have devastating and far-reaching impacts,” the group posted on Facebook. “Domestic violence does not stay behind closed doors. It affects children, extended family members, and entire communities.”
