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'Utter senselessness': Pawtucket, RI, shooter kills ex-wife, son; divorce records shed light on father's past

Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald on

Published in News & Features

Police identified the two victims killed at an ice rink in Pawtucket, R.I., Monday as the ex-wife and adult son of the shooter, as divorce records shed light on the father’s past.

Rhonda Dorgan was pronounced dead at the scene and her son Aidan succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said at a press conference Tuesday.

The shooter, Robert Dorgan, who went by Roberta, also critically injured Rhonda’s parents Linda and Gerald and a family friend, Thomas Geruso, Goncalves said. All three were still in the hospital.

“It was very targeted,” she noted. The victims had all gone to watch another son of Dorgan play hockey at Dennis M. Lynch Arena for his Senior Night.

Dorgan was subdued by Good Samaritans before pulling out a second gun he’d taken into the venue and killing himself.

Dorgan had legally purchased the two guns he brought into the rink, a 10 mm Glock and a Sig 226, Goncalves said. The department is working with the Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to determine whether he had valid licenses to carry in other states.

“There were no expectations or any indication that there was going to be violence,” the chief said. Dorgan had attended other hockey games without issue, and there’s no evidence so far that an altercation had occurred at the rink before the killings.

There are still many unknowns, Goncalves told the media, saying investigators are “just trying to factually put the pieces together.”

They don’t currently have a motive for the killing. Dorgan wasn’t known to Pawtucket Police, he was not a current Rhode Island resident, and he didn’t leave behind a suicide note, she said.

Pawtucket Police have several search warrants out, and they plan on combing through Dorgan’s social media posts, which will take hours because there are thousands, Goncalves said. She couldn’t say whether he had a history of mental health issues because they do not have his medical records yet.

“Everyone is looking for answers,” she said.

According to court records obtained by the Herald, Dorgan was married for 27 years before Rhonda filed for divorce in February 2020.

Under the section of the filing that asks for the grounds of divorce, she listed “gender reassignment surgery” and “narcissistic and personality disorder traits,” which were then crossed out and replaced with “irreconcilable differences.”

 

Rhonda requested custody of the children and $150 weekly in child support. The couple was officially divorced by the next year.

As law enforcement vehicles sat outside the arena Tuesday, a few people came by with flowers to pay their respects.

North Providence juniors Ethan Kasht and William Soares said they knew the victims and couldn’t believe what had happened during the game the day before.

“They’re a good family,” Kasht said, describing the victims as humble and kind. “Nobody deserved it.”

Dorgan’s daughter and Rhonda’s step-daughter Amanda Wallace-Hubbard started a GoFundMe for her two siblings who have lost both their parents and older brother. “The weight of this loss is something no one should ever have to bear, especially at such young ages,” she wrote.

It’s February vacation week, but Soares said counselors would be coming to the school Thursday to provide support for students. “It’s not a fun feeling,” he said of his emotions in the aftermath of the news.

State Sen. Meghan Kallman, who represents Pawtucket, said she was devastated by the “utter senselessness” of the shooting, saying that the students and families were supposed to be celebrating and had plans for a potluck dinner after Senior Night.

The people who live in Rhode Island “have been through an awful lot over the last few months,” Kallman said. Her district is also right next to Brown University, where two students were killed at the end of December.

Kallman said that there’s a lot of work to be done both on access to guns and access to mental health care and that she’s worried about the way shootings have become normalized, especially for the young people who witness them.

“It’s not normal,” Kallman said. “That’s one more thing that they’re going to have to live with for the rest of their lives.”

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