A transgender dad killed his wife and shot three of his own children during a hockey game in Rhode Island after his marriage ended to his gender-reassignment surgery, it has emerged.
Three others were hospitalised after the transgender shooter targeted his family, who were attending an indoor hockey game on Monday afternoon, before reportedly turning the gun on himself, US news sources report.
The shooter has been named as Robert Dorgan, 56. Local news outlet WPRI, citing police documents, reports that Dorgan underwent gender reassignment surgery in early 2020, which led to issues within the family, including the collapse of his marriage.
The local outlet reports on court documents detailing the trans shooter’s medical history, with his wife filing for divorce citing his “gender reassignment surgery” as well as “narcissistic and personality disorder traits.”
Those reasons were later crossed out and replaced with “irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage.”
Dorgan, who also used the name Roberta Esposito, killed a woman and her child in the stands of a game in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Monday evening, before taking his own life, the Telegraph reports.
A source in the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives told Fox News that Dorgan had killed his wife and shot three of his children. It is understood that the dead woman’s son was playing in the match when the shooting happened.
Three people remain in hospital after the shooting, with Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves telling reporters that someone intervened and tried to subdue the shooter, who was at the arena to watch a family member’s hockey game.
The shooter died from an apparent self-inflicted gun wound, Ms Goncalves said, pointing out that while authorities were still investigating, it appeared to be “a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute.”
The Telegraph reports that 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.
WPRI reports that a divorce between Dorgan and his ex-wife was finalised in June 2021, by which point Dorgan had moved to Florida and had begun working as a truck driver.
Police have credited a good samaritan with ending the shooting at the Rhode Island ice rink.
Ms Goncalves said: A “good Samaritan stepped in and interjected in this scene, and that’s probably what led to a swift end of this tragic event.”
In a statement shared on social media on Monday evening, the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence described the situation as “deeply painful.”
“While details are still emerging, we know that violence within families and intimate relationships can have devastating and far-reaching impacts,” they said, adding:
“Domestic violence does not stay behind closed doors. It affects children, extended family members, and entire communities.”