A gunman opened fire during a high school hockey game at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Sunday afternoon, killing his ex-wife and adult son before turning the gun on himself. Three other people were critically wounded in the attack, which police have called a targeted act of domestic violence. The shooting, which happened in front of dozens of spectators at what was supposed to be a Senior Night celebration, ended in part because a bystander rushed the gunman and physically stopped him from continuing to fire.
The Shooting and the Victims
Police identified the shooter as 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, who also went by the name Roberta Esposito. Dorgan opened fire around 2:30 p.m. during the first period of a game between the Coventry-Johnston co-op and the St. Raphael-Providence Country Day-North Providence-North Smithfield co-op, according to the Associated Press. Dorgan’s child was a senior on one of the teams, and the game was being streamed live online when the shots rang out.
The two people killed were Dorgan’s ex-wife, 52-year-old Rhonda Dorgan, and their 23-year-old son Aidan Dorgan. Rhonda died at the scene. Aidan, a recent Merrimack College graduate who had earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and was pursuing a master’s, died at the hospital. Three others were wounded and hospitalized in critical condition: Rhonda’s parents, Linda and Gerald Dorgan, both 75, and Thomas Geruso, 54, a family friend and assistant principal at Charles E. Shea High School in Pawtucket.
Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters the shooting was “a targeted event” that stemmed from a family dispute. Investigators interviewed nearly 100 witnesses and are reviewing video footage from the arena as well as the game’s livestream. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Rhode Island State Police have joined the investigation, and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that agents from the Boston Division were assisting as well.
Police recovered two firearms and seven magazines from Dorgan, some of which exceeded Rhode Island’s 10-round capacity limit. The weapons were legally purchased, and Dorgan held a concealed carry license issued in Florida.
A Bystander Tackled the Gunman
In the chaos after the first shots, spectators scrambled for exits and dove behind bleachers. But Michael Black, who was sitting in the stands with his wife, did something else. Black told NBC 10 that he initially thought the sounds were balloons popping, until he looked down from the upper rows and saw a pistol being pointed at people in the second row.
“I jumped across and went for the gun,” Black said. He tackled Dorgan and managed to jam his hand into the gun’s slide, preventing it from firing again. “He was trying to pull the trigger, but my hand was in there so it wasn’t working.” Dorgan shoved him off, but other bystanders moved in. One put Dorgan in a chokehold. At that point, according to both Black and police, Dorgan reached for a second firearm and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Chief Goncalves credited the bystanders with bringing the attack “to a swift end.” A detective later told Black that Dorgan’s own daughter said she believed she would have been next, and that Black’s intervention saved her life. When reporters called him a hero, Black pushed back. “I have heroes in my life, but these should be our heroes,” he said, pointing to the police, firefighters, and paramedics who responded.
A Community Reeling
Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee issued a statement within hours, calling the shooting a tragedy that “shook our state” and confirming that state agencies were supporting the Pawtucket police investigation. His office directed anyone affected by the violence to call 988, the national crisis support line.
The Rhode Island Interscholastic League announced late Monday that all interscholastic games have been temporarily suspended. Local officials have begun organizing trauma counseling for the students who were on the ice and the families who were in the stands. For many of those families, the Lynch Arena was a familiar weekend stop, the kind of place where parents drink bad coffee and cheer too loud and never think twice about safety. That changed on Sunday.
Court records reviewed by multiple outlets show a long history of conflict within the Dorgan family. Rhonda Dorgan filed for divorce from Robert Dorgan in February 2020 after 28 years of marriage, and the divorce was finalized in June 2021. According to the couple’s daughter, who spoke to NBC 10, her father had a long history of violence and abuse and had been largely cut off from the family. The daughter described the shooting as the culmination of years of fear.
The attack is the second mass shooting to hit Rhode Island in recent months, following the shooting at Brown University in Providence. It has also reignited questions about security at public sporting events, particularly at municipal arenas that host youth and high school games. These facilities typically operate with open entry, no bag checks, and no metal detectors. Whether Sunday’s violence leads to policy changes at the state or municipal level remains to be seen, but for now, the conversation in Pawtucket is less about metal detectors and more about the people who were lost and the families left trying to make sense of what happened at a hockey game.
