Police ID Pawtucket Ice Rink Shooter as Transgender Father of Three Who Went by ‘Roberta’ – RedState
We’re learning more about the man police say shot at a Pawtucket, Rhode Island, rink during a high school hockey game Monday afternoon, and it appears to be the latest in a disturbing trend of mass shootings committed by transgender people. Three people, including the shooter, died and three others are hospitalized.
At a news conference Monday evening, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves identified the suspect as Robert Dorgan, 56, also known as “Roberta Esposito.” The violence, now classified as a murder-suicide, appears to stem from a family dispute and Dorgan’s confused gender identity may have played a role in the tensions.
Local media reports that Robert Dorgan went to the North Providence Police Department in early 2020 to file a complaint against his stepfather. According to Dorgan, he had recently undergone sex reassignment surgery and his stepfather wanted him to leave the family home because of it.
Dorgan, who said he had lived in the house for seven years, told police his stepfather told him, “There’s nothing fucked up [sic] how a transexual will stay in my house.
Around the same time as this incident, Dorgan’s then-wife Rhonda filed for divorce, initially citing “sex reassignment surgery, narcissistic traits, and personality disorders” as reasons for the separation. She ultimately crossed out that number, replacing it with “irreconcilable differences that caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage.” Rhonda Dorgan was among those shot and killed Monday.
SEE ALSO: Developing: Shooting at RI Ice Rink Leaves At Least 2 Dead, Several Injured
New: Canadian mass shooter identified as transgender, authorities rush to avoid being ‘misgender’
Court records show the divorce was finalized in June 2021; Robert Dorgan reportedly moved to Jacksonville, Florida after the divorce and worked as a truck driver.
🚨 UPDATE: A source with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tells Fox News that the shooting stemmed from a domestic violence incident and turned into a murder-suicide.
The source said the shooter killed his wife and shot two of his children before turning… https://t.co/LorYSjt8EO
– Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 16, 2026
Police Chief Goncalves revealed that his department interviewed more than 100 witnesses as part of its investigation into the shooting. Rhonda Dorgan is believed to have been shot and killed alongside one of her adult children; Robert Dorgan apparently turned the gun on himself.
“It appears to be a targeted event, that it could be a family dispute,” Goncalves said. “We can’t release the names of the victims because obviously we want to talk to the family, make sure they are fully aware of what happened before we release that information publicly.”
As RedState’s Bog Hoge reported earlier Monday, the shooting took place at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket. We have since learned that the violence began around 2:30 p.m. during a high school game, possibly between the Coventry-Johnston co-op team and the Blackstone Valley (BVS) co-op team; one of the Dorgan children was on the ice at the time of the shooting and did not appear to have been injured.
A local reporter, NBC 10’s Dan Jaehnig, cited a law enforcement source as saying the suspect may have been dressed as a woman when he intentionally targeted family members attending the hockey game.
BREAKING: The suspect in the Rhode Island shootings has indeed been confirmed to be a man who underwent gender reassignment surgery – something his ex-wife cited in their divorce papers as having “narcissistic traits and personality disorders.”
His ex-father-in-law was also arrested a… pic.twitter.com/HfCaUdwFnU
– Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 17, 2026
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Just last week, an 18-year-old transgender man massacred seven students and a teacher at Tumbler Ridge High School in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
This is a developing story. Be sure to stay with RedState for all the latest updates.
