Police in Rhode Island identified the victims of a “targeted” shooting at a high school hockey game that left two people dead and three critically wounded.
The individuals killed in the shooting were Rhonda Dorgan, 52, and her son Aidan Dorgan, 23, Pawtucket Police Department Chief Tina Goncalves confirmed in a news conference on Feb. 17. The three who were critically injured were Rhonda’s parents, Linda and Gerald Dorgan, and Thomas Geruso, a family friend.
Authorities said the shooting was an incident of domestic violence. Police identified the shooter as Robert Dorgan, 56, Rhonda Dorgan’s ex-husband. Aidan Dorgan was their adult son. The family was at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena watching their high school-age son play in the hockey game.
The shooter, who also used the name Roberta, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Goncalves said. It wasn’t unusual for them to attend their son’s hockey games.
A police review of video evidence so far has not shown that “there was any confrontation or conversation before the shooting happened,” Gonclaves said. But she called the attack “targeted.”
“He did approach the family individually, and he fired upon the family,” she said.
Rhonda Dorgan was a resident of North Providence, according to public records. A friend described her as a “beacon of light.”
“My beautiful friend was a beacon of light in this dark world,” Titia Sperry Bowes wrote on Facebook, according to the Providence Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. “ALWAYS with a smile on her face. Literally the sweetest, loving person on this earth. She raised the most beautiful children despite the things she endured. He took that light from her, her kids, all of us.”
Court records show that Rhonda Dorgan filed for divorce in 2020, citing irreconcilable differences.
Under grounds for divorce, she wrote “Gender reassignment surgery, Narcissistic + personality disorder traits” and then crossed that out and wrote “irreconcilable differences which caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage.”
The Dorgans were married in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in 1992, and their divorce was finalized in 2021, according to court records.
Aidan Dorgan graduated from North Providence High School in 2021, according to a LinkedIn profile. He was captain of the varsity hockey and lacrosse teams and belonged to the National Honor Society.
In 2025, he received a bachelor’s degree from Merrimack College, where he majored in mechanical engineering and designed a robot that could hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Last fall, he was hired as an engineer at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, where he’d started out as an intern.
“After years of education and applications, I’m thrilled to finally start living out my dream of working in the shipbuilding industry,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Merrimack College President Christopher E. Hopey said in a statement that Aidan Dorgan “was a bright student who made both the President’s and Dean’s lists during his time at Merrimack.”
“He was respected by his faculty and was a valued member of our campus community,” Hopye said. “He was very involved in the School of Engineering and Computational Sciences and embodied a true pursuit of knowledge. At the 2025 Research & Creative Achievement Conference, he was part of a group that presented on robots the group had built to address specific challenges.”
A statement from the Dorgan family’s attorney, Lawrence J. Signore, said the family is cooperating with authorities, and they are “deeply and profoundly affected” by the shooting.
“We are reminded that behind every headline is a family experiencing profound pain and loss,” the statement said. “We care greatly for all families impacted by this recent tragedy and our thoughts are with them.”
“While there are many questions being asked, please know we are focused on all of those who have been injured and whose lives have been forever changed,” the statement continued.
Both Robert Dorgan and Rhonda Dorgan had the same last name before they were married in 1992, court records show. This is because they are first cousins, once removed.
The 1950 U.S. Census for the state of Rhode Island lays out the family dynamic.
It lists the family of Edward F. Dorgan, 57, and his wife, Eva C. Dorgan, 47, living on Farnum Pike in Smithfield. Among others living with them were two sons: Raymond C. Dorgan, 22, and Robert J. Dorgan, 7, at the time of the Census.
The Robert J. Dorgan in the 1950 census was the father of the shooting suspect Robert Kevin Dorgan, also called Roberta.
Meanwhile, Raymond C. Dorgan fathered Gerald L. Dorgan, who, with his wife, Linda Dorgan, are in critical condition after the shooting. Their daughter was Rhonda Lee Dorgan.
That means Edward F. Dorgan is the shooting suspects’ grandfather and Rhonda Lee’s great-grandfather. Looked at it another way, Rhonda’s grandfather is the shooting suspects’ uncle.
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