By CP StaffFriday, February 20, 2026Robert Dorgan in an undated photo shared on social media. | Screenshot/Facebook
Within the span of one week, dozens of people have been killed or injured in two separate attacks in the United States and Canada committed by males who publicly identified as transgender.
Robert Dorgan, 56, shot and killed his ex-wife and their adult son at a crowded youth hockey game on Monday in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, according to the Associated Press.
Police said Dorgan also went by the names Roberta Esposito and Roberta Dorgano, and deliberately targeted family members in the shooting, AP reported.
Rhonda Dorgan and her 23-year-old son, Aidan Dorgan, were killed. Two other family members and a close family friend were also wounded.
Rhonda Dorgan initially cited her ex-husband’s gender reassignment surgery and narcissistic personality disorder as reasons for their 2020 divorce before crossing out those reasons in favor of “irreconcilable differences,” according to court documents cited by AP,
The shooting occurred just days after a male shooter who identified as female opened fire at a high school in western Canada on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens before dying by suicide, in what officials say is one of the deadliest school shootings in the country’s history.
Before that, the last school shooting committed by a trans-identified person occurred on Aug. 27, 2025, by 23-year-old Robin (Robert) Westman, a male who identified as female. He opened fire during an Annunciation Catholic Church mass in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killing two children and injuring 19 others.
Here are four things to know about the latest shooting in Rhode Island.
