Pawtucket Shooter’s Gender Identity Tied to Past Family Disputes, Court Records Show
By Eli Sherman, Tim White, Jusolyn Flower
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — The suspect in a Pawtucket shooting that left two people dead and three others injured Monday had a history of family disputes, some involving conflict over his gender identity, according to court records.
Robert Dorgan, 56, is accused of opening fire at a Pawtucket ice rink, killing at least two family members and injuring three others in what authorities described as a family dispute. Dorgan then shot and killed himself, according to police.
At a late-night news conference, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said Dorgan also went by the name “Roberta,” and court documents show his gender identity played a role in multiple family disputes over recent years.
In early 2020, Dorgan went to the North Providence Police Department and reported he had recently undergone gender-reassignment surgery and that his father-in-law wanted him out of their North Providence home because of it.
Dorgan told police that his father-in-law, who shares the same surname, threatened to “have him murdered by an Asian street gang if he did not move out of the residence,” according to court documents.
Dorgan, who said he had lived at the home for seven years, told police that the father-in-law used a derogatory term for transgender individuals to say no such person was “going to stay in my house.”
The father-in-law was charged with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system. Prosecutors later dismissed the charges.
Around the same time, Dorgan’s then-wife Rhonda Dorgan filed for divorce. Under grounds for divorce, Rhonda initially wrote, “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits.” Those reasons were then crossed out and replaced with “irreconcilable differences which have caused the immediate breakdown of the marriage.”
The divorce was finalized in June 2021, court records show.
Paperwork from the divorce showed Dorgan lived at the time in Jacksonville, Florida, and was working as a truck driver.
Also in 2020, Dorgan accused his mother of assaulting him and acting in a “violent, threatening or tumultuous manner,” according to police records. The mother was charged with simple assault and battery and disorderly conduct, and the case was also a point of contention in the dispute with his father-in-law.
An attorney for Dorgan’s mother did not immediately return a call for comment.
Dorgan told police his father-in-law “told me that if I did not drop the assault charges against my mother that further retaliation could be expected and that was another reason to have me killed.”
The case against his mother was also dismissed, according to court records.
In a statement Monday night, the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence described the situation as “deeply painful.”
“While details are still emerging, we know that violence within families and intimate relationships can have devastating and far-reaching impacts,” the group said. “Domestic violence does not stay behind closed doors. It affects children, extended family members, and entire communities.”
Original source: https://www.wpri.com/target-12/pawtucket-shooters-gender-identity-tied-to-past-family-disputes-court-records-show/