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Assailant in Pawtucket hockey rink shooting killed ex-wife and son, police confirm
One of the shooter’s children said her grandparents and a family friend were also wounded in Monday’s shooting.
The shooter who opened fire at a high school hockey game in Pawtucket Monday afternoon killed his ex-wife and son, police confirmed Tuesday.
Robert Dorgan — who also used the name Roberta and the surname Esposito — killed his ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, and son, Aidan Dorgan, as part of “a targeted family dispute” at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, authorities said. Rhonda Dorgan was found dead at the arena, and Aidan Dorgan died at a hospital.
“It appeared that the suspect was in female clothes yesterday, but again, that’s nothing that had swayed the investigation one way or another,” Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said at a press conference Tuesday. “We’re just trying to factually put the pieces together and let that lead us on to obviously why this occurred yesterday. Everybody’s looking for answers.”
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Three additional people who were shot during the “domestic violence incident” including Rhonda Dorgan’s parents, Linda and Gerald Dorgan, Goncalves said during a press briefing Tuesday. Thomas Geruso, a family friend, was also shot, and all three surviving victims are in critical condition, Gonclaves said.
Geruso appears to be an assistant principal at Charles E. Shea Senior High School in Pawtucket, according to online staff listings. Superintendent Randy Buck said during the press conference that the tragedy “has touched Pawtucket school community as members of our own staff were personally impacted,” but declined to confirm Geruso’s connection.
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The investigation into the shooting, including Dorgan’s motives, is still underway, Goncalves said, as police work to comb through the shooter’s social media posts and videos from the game.
The victim’s identities were previously confirmed by a family member on a GoFundMe page created to raise money for Ava Dorgan and a surviving brother, a 17-year-old high school senior.
“The weight of this loss is something no one should ever have to bear, especially at such young ages,” wrote Amanda Wallace-Hubbard, who identified herself as the siblings’ half-sister and Rhonda Dorgan’s stepdaughter. The fundraiser is meant to help cover basic living expenses and education costs, according to the description.
“Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ease their burden and provide some stability as they navigate this difficult time,” Wallace-Hubbard wrote.
It wasn’t uncommon for Robert Dorgan, 56, to be present at hockey games, and during Monday’s game, Dorgan entered the arena, left, and then re-entered, police said. There did not appear to be a conversation or confrontation between the family members before the shooting, according to videos of the incident, Goncalves told reporters.
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At least three bystanders “were able to overcome the suspect,” Goncalves said, before Robert Dorgan reached for a second gun and fatally shot himself.
“We’re not sure at this point what the trigger event was that happened yesterday. We are conducting several search warrants at this time, looking for additional information,” Goncalves said.
General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works, a shipyard in Bath, Maine, confirmed that Robert Dorgan was an active employee there to Maine Public.
Police recovered two handguns, Goncalves said. Robert Dorgan had “a license to carry out of Florida, so we are working to see if they had a license to carry anywhere else,” the chief said. The weapons had been purchased legally, she said.
Court records indicate Rhonda Dorgan filed for divorce from Robert Dorgan in February 2020, with the case finalized a year later. There is no indication that Robert Dorgan still lived in Rhode Island, police said.
In a filing obtained by WCVB, Rhonda Dorgan wrote she was seeking the divorce due to “Gender reassignment surgery narcissitic [sic] + personality disorder traits.” Those words were ultimately crossed out in a court filing and replaced with “irreconcilable differences which caused the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage,” the news outlet reported.
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A family member told NBC 10 WJAR that Robert Dorgan struggled with mental health issues throughout adulthood.
During an appearance on the radio station WPRO Tuesday, Charles Lombardi — the mayor of North Providence, where the Dorgan family lived — described the shooting as “a sad, sad situation.”
“It wasn’t a situation where our police department was responding to the home regularly,” Lombardi said. “That would have lit the flag, or raised the flag, so to say, that we would have had to keep our eye on them. But that isn’t the situation.”
He added: “Whatever their issues were, personally or within the family, we weren’t aware of that, so to say.”
Rhode Island Interscholastic League Executive Director Michael Lunney said all games are temporarily suspended “out of respect for the victims and to reflect upon this senseless act of violence.”
“It’s another sad day in Rhode Island, here in Pawtucket,” Governor Dan McKee said. “Too many Rhode Islanders know what it feels like to lose a loved one or a neighbor or a friend to gun violence, and too many have experienced the tragedy of domestic violence. We’ve made efforts in that area, we’re going to double down in that area.”
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