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Robert Dorgan family disputes: Pawtucket shooter's dad-in-law threatened to ‘have him murdered’; mom accused of assault
Pawtucket shooter Robert Dorgan told police in 2020 that his father-in-law threatened to “have him murdered by an Asian street gang" over his gender identity.
New details have emerged about the family life of Robert Dorgan, the father who opened fire at a Pawtucket, Rhode Island high school hockey tournament. Dorgan went on a deadly rampage at the Dennis M Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence, during a youth ice hockey game.
Dorgan killed two people and injured three others before allegedly turning the gun on himself in a suspected “family dispute,” according to authorities. The 56-year-old used the alias Roberta Esposito, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said during a press conference Monday night, according to the New York Post.
Robert Dorgan’s history of family disputes
Dorgan had a history of family disputes, some of them involving conflict over his gender identity, court records showed, according to WPRI Providence. He went to the North Providence Police Department in early 2020 and reported that he had recently undergone gender-reassignment surgery, and alleged that his father-in-law wanted him out of their North Providence home because of this.
Dorgan reportedly told police 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 court documents. Dorgan claimed that he had lived in the home for seven years.
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He accused his father-in-law of using a derogatory term for transgender people to say no such person was “going to stay in my house.”
The father-in-law was subsequently charged with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system. However, prosecutors later dismissed the charges.
Dorgan’s then wife, Rhonda Dorgan, filed for divorce around the same time. According to court records, the divorce was finalized in June 2021. Paperwork from the divorce revealed that at the time, Dorgan lived in Jacksonville, Florida, and was working as a truck driver.
Back in 2020, Dorgan accused his mother of assaulting him and acting in a “violent, threatening or tumultuous manner,” police records showed. The mother was later charged with simple assault and battery and disorderly conduct.
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Dorgan even told cops that 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 his mother was later dismissed, per court records.
The Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence said in a statement on Monday, February 16, that the situation was “deeply painful.” “While details are still emerging, we know that violence within families and intimate relationships can have devastating and far-reaching impacts,” the group said. “Domestic violence does not stay behind closed doors. It affects children, extended family members, and entire communities.”
Dorgan has been identified as the father of a North Providence High School senior. The student was competing in the hockey tournament, according to local station WPRI.
Dorgan, who was sitting near the back of the stands on the home team’s side during the game, opened fire at four family members and one family friend after moving to the front. His child’s mother and sibling were among the dead, multiple sources told WPRI. While the mother died inside Lynch Arena, the sibling died at the hospital. Three victims remain in critical condition.
Dorgan appeared to die from a “self-inflicted gun wound,” Goncalves said, adding that they are still “going to investigate that fully.”
