The heroic bystander, Michael Black, who risked his own life to try to subdue the transgender gunman in Rhode Island on Monday, recounted the harrowing incident on Tuesday. He described how, after he tackled the shooter, his hand became caught in the gunman's slide, stopping him from causing further harm, and how he witnessed the shooter pull out a second gun and take his own life.
"As I was watching the game, I heard a pop, pop. And I thought they were balloons, I thought they were big balloons. And the noise was right in front of me. I looked, and I saw, and heard another pop, and recognized there wasn’t any balloons there, and thought that there was something wrong," Michael Black said. "At that point of time, as soon as I saw the pistol, my wife was sitting next to me with some friends, and we didn’t even look at each other, and I just said run, run," Black said. "I kind of waited, and as soon as I saw a clear path, I got on the third level step, and he was on the one and a half, and I just jumped across and went for the gun. I wanted to grab the gun. And what had happened was, my hand got caught in the sliding chamber, and he shot, and my hand got caught, and I was holding him down with my body."
“He was trying to press the trigger, and the gun wasn’t working because my hand was in the way,” he added.
"So literally I'm looking down, and he's looking up, and we were staring right at each other. And at that point in time, I wanted to come down and put my knee or something to put it on his body to try to hold them down," he said.
Black went on to describe that the shooter, Robert Dorgan, managed to shove him off and get back to his feet. Moments later, as other good samaritans rushed in to subdue the shooter, Dorgan fell back to the ground, pulled out a second firearm, placed it in his mouth, and pulled the trigger.
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🚨 TRUE HERO: Michael Black jumped into action, tackling & disarming trans shooter Robert Dorgan
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) February 18, 2026
Dorgan killed his ex-wife & son, wounded others, then took his own life with a secondary weapon.
Black & other brave bystanders likely saved countless lives. Heroes among us! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/vJvEyN9MeX
Shortly after the incident, Black received a phone call from a Pawtucket detective, who revealed just how heroic his actions were.
"He said, we were interviewing the daughter yesterday, and she has a belief on what happened. As the shooter was coming down, he was shooting one person, the next, the next. And she said, he was looking at me. I was going to be next. And she told the police officer, until this guy in a black jacket tackled him and took the gun away, I'm sure he would have killed me. And that changed my perspective a little bit of appreciating that, you know, I kind of changed."
Black later added that he had a newfound appreciation for first responders.
"When I saw what the police did, fire, paramedics, at the hospital last night, I have such a high-level appreciation of what they do every day," he said. "And as I was sitting at the hospital last night, I recognize, you know, I have heroes in my life, but these should be our heroes."
The recounting from Black comes only days after the tragic shooting unfolded at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, during a high school hockey game. The gunman, 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, who identified as a woman, targeted family members in the bleachers on his son Aidan’s senior night. His ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, was killed at the scene, and Aidan later died at a hospital. Three others, Rhonda’s parents, Linda and Gerald Dorgan, and family friend Thomas Giarrusso, were injured and remain in critical condition.
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