The crazed gunman who killed two people and critically injured three others at a high school hockey game in Rhode Island on Monday afternoon has been identified as a transgender dad who railed against anti-trans hate in family legal disputes and deranged social media rants.
Robert Dorgan, 56 — who shot four family members and a family friend before he turned the gun on himself following the deadly rampage at the Pawtucket ice rink — used the female alias Roberta Esposito, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said during a press conference Monday night.
“We have identified the person, the suspect, by a birth name, the birth name was Robert Dorgan,” Goncalves said. “We have also learned that the person does go by the name of Roberta, also uses the last name of Esposito.”
Robert Dorgan is the father of a North Providence High School senior who was competing in the hockey tournament where he carried out his deadly rampage.
Roberta Dorgano/XThe night before the suspect stormed the hockey tournament with a gun, he ominously replied, “keep bashing us, but do not wonder why we Go BERSERK” in response to an anti-trans X post.
Dorgan, the father of a North Providence High School senior who was competing in the hockey tournament, reportedly underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2020, according to court filings obtained by local station WPRI.
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His transgender identity appeared to be a source of multiple family court battles in the years before Monday’s targeted shooting, which cops said was the result of a domestic dispute.
His ex-wife filed for divorce in 2020 on grounds of “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits,” according to the court filing obtained by the local outlet. The reasoning was later replaced with “irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage,” the outlet reported.
Their split was finalized in 2021. The fatal victims of Monday’s shooting include the mother of Dorgan’s hockey player son and the student athlete’s sibling, multiple sources told WPRI. It’s unclear if his ex is the same woman he gunned down.
Also in 2020, Dorgan showed up at the North Providence Police Department and reported that his father-in-law wanted him out of their North Providence home because of his gender reassignment surgery, the publication reported.
He said his father-in-law used a slur for transgender people to say no such individual was “going to stay in my house,” the gunman told cops.
He also bizarrely claimed that his in-law had threatened to “have him murdered by an Asian street gang if he did not move out of the residence,” where he had lived for seven years, according to the court docs.
An X account appearing to belong to the crazed trans shooter is full of thousands of unhinged posts, including ones railing against anti-trans hate as well as several antisemitic, pro-Nazi, and racist rants.
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In a Feb. 15 response to a post calling openly trans US Rep. Sarah McBride a man, Dorgan chillingly wrote, “keep bashing us, but do not wonder why we Go BERSERK.”
In other X posts, he offered his support for the Second Amendment and ICE and his disdain for abortion.
Dorgan was reportedly armed with multiple guns during the ice rink shooting.
Goncalves praised a “good Samaritan” who she said stepped in and “attempted to subdue” Dorgan. Witnesses said the man — the father of another hockey player — disarmed Dorgan, but he had a backup firearm, both of which police retrieved at the scene.
Dorgan took his own life at the scene of the shooting on Monday, police said.
Three victims were still in critical condition as of Monday night.
Robert Dorgan, also known as Roberta Esposito, posing for a selfie in sunglasses and a floral dress next to a river with green trees in the background.
Dorgan is the father of a North Providence High School senior who was competing in the hockey tournament.
Credit: Roberta Dorgano/X
A woman who was seen leaving the Pawtucket police station earlier in the day said the gunman was her father, who “has mental health issues” and was “very sick.”
“He shot my family, and he’s dead now,” she said.
Harrowing livestream footage that captured the unfolding chaos showed clumps of spectators scrambling to the exit while others rushed to aid the victims. One witness told CBS News that she saw someone attempting CPR on the victims.
Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien said law enforcement is working in tandem with the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office “to ensure the facts are fully established” before making any other announcements.
“Pawtucket is a strong and resilient community, but tonight we are a city in mourning. We will stand together to support all those affected in the difficult days ahead, and we will keep the public updated as confirmed facts become available,” Grebien said.
