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The Trans Ice Rink Shooter Story Just Took a Wild Turn

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  February 20, 2026 6:55 AM

When a mass shooting occurs, two patterns typically emerge: the media often misreports crucial details, and they tend to frame the event as a white perpetrator to support a gun control narrative and facilitate white supremacy discussions. On February 16, a tragic shooting at an ice rink in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, resulted in two deaths and three injuries, all captured on video.

This was a domestic dispute. The shooter, a transgender, committed suicide after killing his ex-wife and son. ‘Roberta Dorgano,’ a man identifying as a woman, was born Robert Dorgan and carried out this tragic act. Dorgan reportedly supported Adolf Hitler, had SS tattoos, and was considered unstable. Despite his race, the fact that he is transgender prevents the media from using this story to criticize Trump or advocate for gun control, which is why it hasn't gained further attention.  

It gets even crazier: the shooter and the ex-wife were cousins (via NY Post): 

A deep dive then showed that he and Rhonda were first cousins once removed when they tied the knot in 1992. 

Dorgan had deliberately targeted his family at the high school hockey game in Pawtucket on Monday, killing Rhonda, their son, Aidan, and leaving her parents, Gerald and Linda Dorgan, fighting for their lives. 

[…] 

Edward Dorgan and his wife, Eva Dorgan, lived in Smithfield, Rhode Island, at the time with their two sons, Raymond Dorgan and Robert J. Dorgan. 

Robert J. Dorgan was the father of the trans shooter Robert Dorgan, and Raymond Dorgan fathered Gerald Dorgan, who was a victim in the shooting and remains in critical condition with his wife, Linda. 

Gerald and Linda were the parents of Rhonda Dorgan, who would marry the Robert Dorgan would go on to massacre his family before turning the gun on himself. 

[…] 

According to the outlet, what this means is that Edward Dorgan is the killer’s grandfather and the great-grandfather of his murdered wife, making Rhonda and Robert Dorgan first cousins once removed. 

Rhode Island is one of about 20 US states that legally permits first cousins to marry, but the Ocean State is one of a small handful of states that allows avunculate marriage — between uncle and niece or aunt and nephew — under certain religious or cultural circumstances. 

[…] 

Dorgan had six kids by three different women, three of them with Rhonda: Aidan, 23, who was pursuing an engineering degree, Ava, 20, a nursing student, and Colin, 17, who was playing the night of the attack.

One of Dorgan’s daughters added that her late father’s erratic behavior estranged him from the family, which is an understatement. Despite his aberrant interests, this guy was nuts. So, don’t look too much into those Nazi tattoos, looking for some motive. Domestic issues are always messy. It’s the one call cops hate responding to because of its volatility, and with this guy’s personality, it turned into a horrific event. 

But what a wild turn.