A transgender man identifying as a woman shot his wife, three children, and a family friend during a high school hockey tournament on Monday, 16 February, in Rhode Island, United States.
According to media reports and social media posts, the shooter was 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, who went by the name Roberta Esposito and casually dressed as a woman. He died from a self-inflicted wound after killing two people and injuring three others, who were taken to the hospital in critical condition. Police described the shooting as a targeted family dispute. Dorgan was the father of a North Providence High School senior participating in the tournament. He shot his son’s mother, their three children, and a family friend, all of whom were spectating at the game.
According to reports, a woman leaving the Pawtucket police station earlier in the day identified the shooter as her father and said he struggled with serious ‘mental health issues’ and was ‘very sick’. ‘He shot my family, and he’s dead now,’ she told reporters.
A livestream of the hockey match captured the horrific moment as players sitting on the bench scrambled to escape, some abandoning their skates in the rush. Others climbed over the rink barrier and ran towards the locker rooms for safety. Families in the crowd fled towards exits as confusion spread through the building.
The chaos unfolded around families, students, and players attending the tournament. Witnesses described spectators diving for cover, rushing towards exits, and trying to help the wounded as the situation developed within seconds.
The shooting in Rhode Island fits into an increasingly disturbing pattern of transgender violence across North America. Last week, a transgender teenager killed ten and injured at least 35 in a mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, Canada.
In August 2025, 22-year-old Robin Westman, a biological male identifying as a woman, killed two children and injured 17 members of the Annunciation Catholic School community attending Mass in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was later revealed that the gunman represented a textbook example of a ‘regret case’. In his manifesto, he repeatedly wrote that he regretted transitioning to a woman and changing his name to Robin. ‘I am tired of being trans. I wish I had never brainwashed myself,’ he wrote, adding that he was sick of his hair and wanted to chop it off.
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