A 23-year-old man was shot dead by his transgender father at his younger brother’s high school hockey game in Rhode Island.
Aidan Dorgan, 23, was killed alongside his mother Rhonda, 52, at the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence, on Monday afternoon.
They were killed by Robert Dorgan, who also went by the name Roberta Esposito. Dorgan, 56, concluded the rampage by killing himself.
Aidan’s grandparents were among those injured in the attack. They are currently in critical condition, fighting for their lives, a GoFundMe page established by Rhonda’s stepdaughter Amanda Wallace-Hubbard revealed.
Rhonda’s youngest son Colin Dorgan, 17, watched the tragedy unfold from the ice, video of the shooting showed.
Colin, captain of the Blackstone Valley Schools’ hockey team, can be seen skating backwards as shots rang out in the rink.
The standout defenseman, wearing his No. 17 jersey, abruptly turned his head towards the source of the gunfire before rushing off the ice.
Colin and his sister Ava, a 20-year-old nursing student, are heartbroken by the loss of their mother and older brother.
Aidan Dorgan, 23, was killed at the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence, on Monday afternoon
Aidan Dorgan (left) was shot by his transgender father Robert Dorgan, (right) who also went by the name Roberta Esposito
Pictured left to right: Ava, Rhonda, Aidan and Colin Dorgan
Colin, captain of the Blackstone Valley Schools’ hockey team, can be seen skating backwards as shots rang out in the rink
‘The weight of this loss is something no one should ever have to bear, especially at such young ages,’ Wallace-Hubbard wrote.
‘Despite the pain, Ava and Colin are determined to continue their education and build a life that honors the memory of our loved ones.’
The crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly $13,000 in just two hours.
Donations will be used to support Ava and Colin, now orphans, with basic living expenses as they continue their education.
‘We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and support from friends, family, and especially the hockey community. Your kindness and generosity have given us strength and hope when we need it most,’ Wallace-Hubbard wrote.
‘Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for standing with our family.’
Like his younger brother, Aidan was also a standout hockey player. He played on the varsity team during his four years at North Providence High School, according to his NCSA College Recruiting profile.
Aidan, who graduated in 2021, served as the team’s captain during his senior year. The star athlete was also a varsity lacrosse player and played on his high school’s junior varsity football team for one year.
He went on to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at Merrimack College and graduated in May last year.
Both Aidan (left) and Colin Dorgan (right) served as captains of their respective varsity hockey teams during their senior years of high school
He and his girlfriend of five years, Starr, appear to have gotten engaged last October. She posted this photo of him on Valentine’s Day, writing: ‘I love doing life with you!’
A GoFundMe campaign has been established to support Ava (left) and Colin (back, right) in wake of the tragedy. The pair are are heartbroken by the loss of their mother Rhonda (right) and older brother Aidan (second left)
He spent his first summer post-grad interning at Connecticut-based company General Dynamics Electric Boat, his LinkedIn profile showed.
Aidan was hired on as an engineer after the completion of his internship in September and has worked at the firm ever since.
He and his girlfriend of five years, Starr, appear to have gotten engaged last October.
Starr shared a photo of them to her Instagram page on Valentine’s Day, writing: ‘I love doing life with you!’
Rhonda died at the indoor skating rink, while Aidan was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
A motive remained unclear Tuesday morning, but Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves believes it was targeted and stemmed from a family dispute.
Rhonda served Robert Dorgan with divorce papers in 2020, according to their case file in Providence/Bristol County Family Court.
She initially cited Dorgan’s ‘gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic and personality disorder traits’ as grounds for divorce, according to court filings obtained by WPRI.
Those reasons were later crossed out and replaced with ‘irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage’. Their divorce was finalized in 2021.
Dorgan at a previous hockey match at the arena, where he later went on a shooting spree
After about a dozen shots were fired, the hockey players were seen racing to the back of the Dennis M Lynch Arena
Dorgan sparred with multiple family members over his gender identity issues, court documents showed.
He told police in early 2020 that he had recently undergone gender reassignment surgery and said his father-in-law wanted him kicked out of their home because of it.
Dorgan claimed to officers with the North Providence Police Department that his father-in-law threatened to ‘have him murdered by an Asian street gang if he did not move out of the residence’, according to the filings.
Dorgan, who at the time told police he had been living at the home for seven years, also claimed his father-in-law told him: ‘There’s no goddam [sic] way a tranny is going to stay in my house,’ the documents read.
The father-in-law was charged with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system, but prosecutors later dismissed the charges.
Other court records show Dorgan had also accused his mother of assaulting him and acting in a ‘violent, threatening or tumultuous manner’, leading his mother to be charged with simple assault and battery and disorderly conduct.
The case apparently caused further contention between Dorgan and his father-in-law, with Dorgan telling police his father-in-law, ‘told me that if 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’.
The case against Dorgan’s mother was also eventually dismissed.
It is unclear how close Dorgan was with his children. He posted this photo of himself with Aidan and Colin in July 2023
Robert Dorgan is pictured with Aidan, Ava and Colin in January 2023
Just hours after Monday afternoon’s deadly shooting, a woman who claimed to be Dorgan’s daughter claimed that he ‘has mental health issues’.
‘He shot my family, and he’s dead now,’ she told WCVB.
Dorgan appeared to post ominous warnings in the days before the bloodbath.
An online profile that appears to belong to him shared an eerie video of a woman running on a treadmill while loading ammunition magazines into a handgun and aiming.
In another post on X, a profile for ‘Roberta Dorgano’ threatened to go ‘BERSERK’ while defending transgender Congresswoman Sarah McBride.
‘Keep bashing us,’ they wrote Sunday. ‘But do not wonder why we Go BESERK.’
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