Trans Shooter Erupts At Packed Senior Night Celebration As Disturbing Backstory Unfolds

Two people were killed and at least three others critically injured after a man who identifies as a woman opened fire at a high school hockey game in Rhode Island.

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves confirmed in a Monday evening press conference that Robert Dorgan, who goes by the name Roberta Esposito, killed himself after what she said was likely a targeted shooting stemming from a family dispute. A clip circulating on social media appears to show Dorgan’s daughter leaving a police station and telling reporters that her father “shot my family” and “he’s dead now.” The woman added that Dorgan “has mental health issues,” and “was very sick.”

Court records from 2020 confirm that Dorgan had undergone gender reassignment surgery. Dorgan claimed to North Providence Police at the time that his father-in-law attempted to throw him out of the house following his surgery. Around that time, Dorgan’s wife filed for divorce, initially citing “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits” as the reason before crossing them out and writing “irreconcilable differences.”

Authorities have not publicly identified the victims, nor have they confirmed the precise relationships involved in the apparent family dispute. Police have also not released information about the weapon used.

This is the latest shooting perpetrated by a transgender-identifying attacker. Earlier this month, a man who identified as a woman and wore a dress killed 10 people at a Canadian school. Transgender-identifying shooters perpetrated deadly attacks on schools in Nashville in 2023 and in Minneapolis in 2025. The latter attack was the subject of the last question Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was asked when he was assassinated in September.

Kirk’s killer, Tyler Robinson, was, at the time of the attack, living with his “transgender partner,” a man named Lance Twiggs, who identifies as a woman. As The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan reported this week, though the Trump administration was reportedly considering a ban on gun ownership for transgender-identifying people in the wake of the Minneapolis shooting, that ban has seemingly stalled. A source familiar with the Trump administration’s thinking said that the topic is not something that they have heard discussed since The Daily Wire’s original reporting in September.

Monday’s shooting occurred at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena during a game involving multiple high school teams. Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said the suspected gunman is also dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Federal authorities, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, responded to assist state and local law enforcement at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena on Monday. Police said shots were fired inside the arena while spectators and players were present for what had been scheduled as a senior night celebration for the Blackstone Valley Schools cooperative hockey team.

“You don’t know what’s going on at first,” Melissa Dunn, the mother of one player, told reporters. “You just hear the loud noises … then you realize something is very wrong.”

A player who was on the ice at the time said multiple shots were fired and that players ran to the locker room for safety.

“We pressed against the door and just tried to stay safe,” he said. “It was very scary.”

Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien called the shooting “a terrible tragedy” and said the city is working closely with law enforcement and the Rhode Island attorney general’s office.

“What should have been a joyful occasion … was instead marked by violence and fear,” Grebien said. “Tonight, Pawtucket is a city in mourning.”