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Who is Rhonda Dorgan? Pawtucket gunman Robert Dorgan called ex-wife ‘beloved’ on social media on the day of shooting
Rhonda Dorgan reportedly filed for divorce shortly after Pawtucket, Rhode Island shooter Robert Dorgan underwent gender-reassignment surgery.
Details have emerged about Rhonda Dorgan, the former wife 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.
Dorgan's former wife Rhonda is believed to be among those who were killed in the shooting, GB News reported. However, authorities have yet to reveal the identities of the victims.
Who is Rhonda Dorgan?
In 2000, Dorgan’s then-wife, Rhonda, filed for divorce, according to WPRI Providence. By then, Dorgan had undergone gender-reassignment surgery.
Rhonda initially wrote under grounds for divorce, “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits.” However, these reasons were later crossed out and replaced with “irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage.”
Read More | Robert Dorgan's photos surface amid reports Pawtucket shooter was dressed in ‘women’s clothing’
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.
Dorgan appeared to refer to his ex-wife in a social media comment on one of Rep. Thomas Massie’s posts on the day of the shooting. Massie wrote in a February 15, 2026, X comment about a cup with “Sassy with Massie” written on it, which was gifted to him by someone, “I love mine, I have two you sent us. Rhonda loved it too.”
Massie was referencing his late wife Rhonda Massie, who died in 2024. In response to Massie’s post, Dorgan wrote, “I have a beloved RHONDA too, my friend”.
Dorgan wrote the comment on February 16, 2026, the day he carried out the shooting in Rhode Island.
Family disputes
Dorgan had a history of family disputes. Around the same time as his divorce, he went to the North Providence Police Department and reported that his father-in-law wanted him out of their North Providence home because of his gender-reassignment surgery.
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.
The father-in-law was charged with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system, but the charges were later dismissed.
In 2020, Dorgan also accused his mother of assaulting him and acting in a “violent, threatening or tumultuous manner,” police records showed. The mother was charged with simple assault and battery and disorderly conduct, but that case was dismissed too.
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’s 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.
