{"id":461017,"date":"2026-02-17T17:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/461017\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T17:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:31:10","slug":"hockey-match-shooters-messy-split-with-wife-over-gender-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/461017\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockey match shooter\u2019s messy split with wife over gender surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

The shooting at an American high school ice hockey match on Monday<\/a> came after several turbulent years for the Dorgan family.<\/p>\n

A difficult divorce caused by gender reassignment surgery, a series of police complaints and bizarre threats formed the backdrop to the killings in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

Robert Dorgan, 56, who used the name Roberta Esposito, opened fire in the stands of his son\u2019s match at the Dennis M Lynch Arena before taking his own life.<\/p>\n

Police have not confirmed the victims\u2019 identities, but federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that Dorgan\u2019s wife Rhonda and one of his children were killed.<\/p>\n

Two other children and a family friend were injured, local outlet WPRI reported.<\/p>\n

Outside Pawtucket police station, a woman who identified herself as Dorgan\u2019s daughter told reporters he was \u201cvery sick\u201d and added: \u201cHe shot my family, and he\u2019s dead now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dorgan<\/p>\n

Robert Dorgan in a Facebook picture. In 2020, he told police he had had gender reassignment surgery – Facebook<\/p>\n

Court documents painted a picture of domestic strife and legal disputes involving Dorgan\u2019s wife, mother, and father-in-law in the years leading up to the shooting.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Dorgan told police he had undergone gender reassignment surgery, and selfies on his Facebook account showed him wearing make-up and female clothing.<\/p>\n

Rhonda Dorgan cited the surgery among the reasons why she filed for divorce, as well as his \u201cnarcissistic and personality disorder traits\u201d.<\/p>\n

Those grounds were later replaced with \u201cirreconcilable differences, which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage\u201d.<\/p>\n

The divorce was finalised in June 2021, by which point Dorgan had moved to Florida, where he was working as a truck driver, WPRI reported. He is understood to have lived at his father-in-law\u2019s home for seven years before transitioning.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The divorce was finalised in June 2021, by which point Dorgan had moved to Florida, where he was working as a truck driver, WPRI reported<\/p>\n

Dorgan told police that his father-in-law, who shares the same surname, threatened to \u201chave him murdered by an Asian street gang if he did not move out of the residence\u201d, according to court records.<\/p>\n

He also said his father-in-law used a derogatory term for transgender people and insisted that no such person was \u201cgoing to stay in my house\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Dorgan accused his mother of assault, telling police she had acted in a \u201cviolent, threatening or tumultuous manner\u201d, records showed.<\/p>\n

He claimed his father-in-law had told him that \u201cif I did not drop the assault charges against my mother that further retaliation could be expected and that was another reason to have me killed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The father-in-law was charged with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system, though prosecutors later dismissed the charges.<\/p>\n

The case against Dorgan\u2019s mother was also dismissed.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The scene outside the Dennis M. Lynch Arena after the shooting on Monday – Joseph Prezioso\/AFP via Getty<\/p>\n

Dorgan\u2019s social media profiles paint a picture of a politically engaged, Republican-supporting conspiracy theorist. On X, he shared posts supportive of Donald Trump and critical of Democrats. Many echoed Republican talking points on immigration, federal enforcement agencies and election fraud.<\/p>\n

He also shared material criticising the Trump administration\u2019s handling of the Epstein files and reposted content from conspiracy theorists including Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes.<\/p>\n

In a statement Monday night, the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence described the situation as \u201cdeeply painful\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile details are still emerging, we know that violence within families and intimate relationships can have devastating and far-reaching impacts,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDomestic violence does not stay behind closed doors. It affects children, extended family members, and entire communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The shooting at an American high school ice hockey match on Monday came after several turbulent years for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[55955,33891,55950,5,13799,55952,55951,55954,55953],"class_list":["post-461017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-american-high-school-ice-hockey-match","tag-federal-law-enforcement","tag-gender-reassignment-surgery","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-match","tag-rhonda-dorgan","tag-robert-dorgan","tag-wife-rhonda","tag-wpri"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116087167709545296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461017","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=461017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}