{"id":460647,"date":"2026-02-17T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/460647\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T09:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T09:00:15","slug":"woman-claims-my-father-was-the-shooter-who-killed-2-self-in-ri-high-school-hockey-rampage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/460647\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman claims ‘my father was the shooter’ who killed 2, self in RI high school hockey rampage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deranged transgender gunman who shot five people, killing two, in a suspected \u201cfamily dispute\u201d<\/a> at a Rhode Island high school hockey tournament was plagued by \u201cmental health issues,\u201d his distraught daughter said.<\/p>\n

The woman, who did not give her name, was exiting the Pawtucket Police Department when she told NewsCenter 5<\/a> \u201cmy father was the shooter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shot my family, and he\u2019s dead now,\u201d she said while hurrying away from the station, flanked by a man and child.<\/p>\n

Robert Dorgan, 56 \u2014 who also went by the name Roberta Esposito \u2014 was identified as the shooter, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene after opening fire on his son\u2019s mother, their three children and a family friend. <\/p>\n

An unidentified woman (pictured) claimed that it was her father who killed two people and injured three others in a shooting at a Pawtucket, Rhode Island high school hockey game on Feb. 16, 2026. WCVB<\/p>\n

Robert Dorgan is the father of a North Providence High School senior who was competing in the hockey\u00a0tournament where he carried out his deadly rampage. Roberta Dorgano\/X<\/p>\n

He was the father of a senior at North Providence High School, one of the six schools participating in the co-op games,\u00a0WPRI reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Gunfire broke out in the middle of a high school boys hockey game. The gunman was later identified as Robert Dorgan, who also used the name Roberta Esposito. EricRueb\/X<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has mental health issues,\u201d she added, noting her father was \u201cvery sick,\u201d but didn\u2019t elaborate further.<\/p>\n

She said that she wasn\u2019t sure who was killed or injured, but was heading to the hospital to check.<\/p>\n

Dorgan was found dead inside the Lynch Arena with one other fatal victim. Another victim died at the hospital, and three others are still in critical condition, police said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A little girl is believed to be among the dead, according to the Pawtucket mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The shooting is being investigated as a \u201cfamily dispute,\u201d Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves confirmed at a press conference.<\/p>\n

Harrowing livestream footage captured the moment\u00a0<\/a>Dorgan opened fire after he reportedly moved from the back of the stands to the front.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The players and spectators dove to the ground as approximately 11 shots rang out, the clip shows. Athletes who were still on the ice rushed to the edge, seemingly in an attempt to take cover behind the barrier, before dashing towards the locker room.<\/p>\n

Dorgan, seen at a previous hockey game, \u201chas mental health issues\u201d and was \u201cvery sick,\u201d his daughter said without elaborating further. X\/@VerdadEsPoder<\/p>\n

Police at the scene of the shooting at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket. AP<\/p>\n

People embrace outside the arena in the aftermath of the mass shooting. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Others trapped on the bench scrambled to the exit, with some ditching their skates in the box.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From there, a group of students sprinted to a nearby Walgreens, where staffers locked down the building and called the authorities.<\/p>\n

One witness said that a player\u2019s father disarmed Dorgan, but he had another weapon and opened fire again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students from Coventry, Johnston, North Providence, and North Smithfield high schools were all at the arena, along with others from St. Raphael Academy and Providence Country Day School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deranged transgender gunman who shot five people, killing two, in a suspected \u201cfamily dispute\u201d at a Rhode…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,55917,55924,13038,29418,999],"class_list":{"0":"post-460647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mass-shootings","10":"tag-murder-suicide","11":"tag-rhode-island","12":"tag-shootings","13":"tag-us-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116085156927766435","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}