A youth hockey game at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket turned tragic on February 16, 2026, when gunfire erupted in the packed stands. What began as a routine high school matchup quickly became a devastating scene witnessed by children, parents, and nearly 100 stunned spectators later interviewed by police. Authorities said 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, who also used the name Roberta Esposito, opened fire in what investigators described as a targeted family dispute before dying from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. His ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, was pronounced dead at the arena, and their adult son, Aidan Dorgan, later died at a hospital. Three others \u2014 Rhonda\u2019s parents and a family friend \u2014 were critically injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As details emerged, court records pointed to long-standing marital tensions preceding the couple\u2019s 2020 divorce after nearly three decades of marriage. But for surviving relatives, the tragedy is deeply personal. Amanda Wallace-Hubbard, Dorgan\u2019s daughter from another relationship, said she and her young sons were sitting in the stands when the shooting began and credited a bystander with preventing further harm. Another son, 17-year-old Colin Dorgan, was playing in the game at the time, while his sister Ava now faces an uncertain future without both parents and their brother. A fundraiser launched to support the siblings has drawn widespread community backing, reflecting both heartbreak and solidarity in the wake of a targeted act that forever changed one family\u2019s life.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A youth hockey game at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket turned tragic on February 16, 2026, when gunfire erupted in the packed stands. What began… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":123,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39234,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39232\/revisions\/39234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}