The smoke from the recent tragedy at Lynch Arena has finally begun to clear, only to reveal a darker, deeper fire burning within the shooter’s own family tree.
The Dorgan family’s story of violence didn’t begin on February 16, 2026. While the world searches for a motive behind the rink shooting, a major piece of the puzzle is currently sitting in a federal prison cell 1,500 miles away.
It turns out that violence was a family affair long before this week’s heartbreaking events. Years ago, Robert Dorgan’s son was involved in a calculated attack that eerily foreshadowed the hatred that would later explode in Pawtucket.
Robert Dorgan, dated July 2024 | Source: Facebook/roberta.esposito.78490
The Night the Church Burned
Just after midnight on February 11, 2024, a woman dialed 911 to report a fire at Shiloh Gospel Temple on Charles Street in North Providence. What she described to the dispatcher was not an accident.
She had seen a man holding a gas can, walking back and forth near the rear of the building, looking at the flames. North Providence firefighters arrived and knocked down the blaze, but not before it caused significant damage to the building.
The church served a congregation of roughly 100 people, predominantly Black members, and was empty at the time, a small mercy in what was clearly a deliberate act.
The scene was disturbing enough on its own. But what investigators uncovered in the hours and days that followed made it far worse.
Robert Dorgan, dated May 2021 | Source: Facebook/roberta.esposito.78490
A $10 Purchase That Gave Everything Away
Police traced the suspect to a gas station less than half a mile away on Mineral Spring Avenue. An employee told investigators that a man had walked in just before midnight carrying a gas can, bought $10 worth of gasoline and a lighter, and left.
Surveillance footage captured his face clearly.
Investigators then stitched together his exact route using video from homes and businesses between the gas station and the church. A coffee purchase made days earlier — paid for with a bank card — confirmed his identity beyond doubt.
The suspect was Kevin Colantonio, then 36 years old. His arrest, however, was only the beginning of what this case would reveal.
Kevin Colantonio, dated February 2025 | Source: X/jadrovet
Journals of Extreme Hatred
When police executed a search of Colantonio’s home, they weren’t just looking for evidence of arson. What they found went far deeper than an accelerant and a lighter.
Inside were notebooks filled with hate-fueled writings targeting racial and religious groups. Among the entries: “Eliminate Rich Snob global Elite Pastors, burn churches down to ground,” “hunt them down,” and most chillingly, “gun everyone down that isn’t white, if one is white spread the gospel. Always give our bloodline a chance.”
The morning after the fire, Colantonio texted a family member complaining that no one seemed to care about the attack. He referred to Shiloh Gospel Temple as “Atheist God mockers,” a message that revealed no remorse, only irritation that the act hadn’t drawn more attention.
In court, he admitted he had “intentionally selected the church as the object of the arson because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, and/or ethnicity of the congregants.”
Prosecutors acknowledged his mental health history but were firm: it neither excused the attack nor “adequately explain[ed] his actions targeting a group of people because of their race and religion.”
Kevin Colantonio’s father, Robert Dorgan, dated February 2022 | Source: Facebook/roberta.esposito.78490
Six Years Behind Bars, but That’s Not All
In June 2025, Colantonio was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison — just over six years — followed by three years of supervised release.
He had pleaded guilty to malicious damage by means of fire, obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs, and two counts of assault on a federal officer. That last charge came from a separate incident while awaiting trial.
At the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, Colantonio threw a mug containing bodily waste and fluids at two federal correctional officers, a detail that said as much about his temperament as anything written in those notebooks.
He is currently serving his sentence at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, with a scheduled release date of December 2029. But the most disturbing part of his story has nothing to do with the sentence itself.
A Toxic Family Legacy
Colantonio was not just a convicted arsonist with a history of hateful writings. He is the biological son of Robert Dorgan, the man who opened fire at Lynch Arena on February 16, 2026, killing his ex-wife, Rhonda, and their son, Aidan, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Robert, who also used the name Roberta Esposito, fathered six children with three different women. Colantonio was one of them — and the half-brother of Aidan Dorgan, one of the rink shooting’s victims.
Robert Dorgan with his son Aidan, dated June 2021 | Source: Facebook/roberta.esposito.78490
People with close ties to the family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Target 12 that Robert directly influenced Colantonio’s fixation on race. The notebooks, the fire, the carefully chosen target — those who knew the family say none of it emerged in a vacuum.
Whether that influence was deliberate or absorbed over years of proximity, the pattern is impossible to ignore. A father who turned a family celebration into a massacre.
A son already imprisoned for a racially motivated attack, driven by writings about bloodlines and guns. Two crimes, two generations, and a thread of hatred running through them both.
Robert Dorgan, dated April 2024 | Source: Facebook/roberta.esposito.78490
The rink attack that claimed Rhonda and Aidan Dorgan’s lives, and left three others fighting for theirs, is a story with layers that continue to surface. For the full picture of what unfolded that afternoon and the fractured family history behind it, read on.
What Happened on February 16, 2026?
Just before 3 p.m. on Monday, February 16, 2026, gunfire erupted inside Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, during a youth hockey game, according to a report by WHDH.
Authorities confirmed that three people, including a child, were killed. The suspected shooter was also killed, and three others were rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters the suspect died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police were not involved in the shooter’s death, and the investigation remains ongoing.
“It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,” Chief Goncalves said. She did not initially release the ages of those killed but noted that it appeared the victims were adults.
Later reports would reveal even more devastating details.
Tina Goncalves, Pawtucket Chief of Police. | Source: Getty Images
Chaos Inside the Arena
The shooting happened at the arena on Andrew D. Ferland Way, just outside Providence. Unverified videos circulating on social media showed players diving for cover as fans scrambled from their seats.
Outside, tearful families embraced. High school players, some still in uniform, were seen hugging before boarding buses to leave the area.
Police stand outside the perimeter they created around the Dennis M. Lynch Arena where a shooting occurred in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on February 16, 2026. | Source: Getty Images
A Daughter Speaks Out
As stunned families gathered at the police department, a woman emerged with a heartbreaking claim. According to WCVB 5, she identified herself as the shooter’s daughter. “My father was the shooter,” she said. “He shot my family, and he’s dead now.”
“He has mental health issues,” said the woman who said the shooter was her father. She went on to say that he struggled with his mental health for some time and was “very sick.” She told reporters she did not yet know who had been killed and was heading to the hospital.
WCVB 5 also reported that hockey players and their families were taken by bus to the police department as the investigation unfolded. Some athletes were still in uniform, while parents clutched flowers meant for a senior night celebration that never came.
People embrace and walk away as police stand outside the perimeter they created around the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on February 16, 2026. | Source: Getty Images
The shooting at Dennis M. Lynch Arena didn’t happen in a vacuum. Behind the gunfire was a complicated history of a divorce filing, police reports, allegations, and strained relationships that now feel impossible to ignore. Here are five key facts that paint a fuller — and more disturbing — picture of the shooter, Robert Dorgan.
1. The Divorce Filing
The unraveling of Robert’s marriage was documented in court filings. According to those court records first detailed by WPRI, his then-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, initially listed the grounds for divorce as “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.
At the time, paperwork showed Robert was living in Jacksonville, Florida, and working as a truck driver, geographically and emotionally distant from the Rhode Island family life he once shared. That legal language, quietly amended on paper, now reads like a warning sign of deeper fractures.
2. A Family Feud That Escalated
The tension inside the family home didn’t stay private…
In early 2020, Robert went to the North Providence Police Department claiming he had recently undergone gender-reassignment surgery and that his father-in-law wanted him out of their North Providence home because of it, as reported by WPRI.
According to court documents, Robert told police his father-in-law threatened to “have him murdered by an Asian street gang if he did not move out of the residence.” Robert said he had lived in that home for seven years.
He also alleged that his father-in-law used a derogatory term for transgender individuals and insisted that no such person was “going to stay” in his house. Authorities charged the father-in-law with intimidation of witnesses and victims of crimes and obstruction of the judicial system. However, prosecutors later dismissed the charges.
But the conflict didn’t stop there. Around the same time, Robert accused his own mother of assaulting him and acting in a “violent, threatening or tumultuous manner,” according to police records. His mother was charged with simple assault and battery, and disorderly conduct.
That case, too, was later dismissed. According to court records, Robert told police his father-in-law warned him that if he did not drop the assault charges against his mother, “further retaliation could be expected and that was another reason to have [him] killed.”
It was a family dispute tangled in accusations, counter-accusations, and criminal complaints, none of which ultimately resulted in convictions, but all of which revealed a deeply fractured dynamic.
3. The Alleged Intention Behind His Brutal Act
After the gunfire echoed through the rink, one voice cut through the shock. Robert’s daughter, Amanda Wallace-Hubbard, spoke to 12 News in a phone interview, and her words were unmistakable:
“I just want to make sure people understand this was one person’s vendetta against their family. We were targeted. This was very specific. It wasn’t random.”
Tragically, her mother, Rhonda, was killed at the rink, while her brother, Aidan Dorgan, died at the hospital.
Also shot were Rhonda’s parents, Linda and Gerald Dorgan — who share the same last name as her ex-spouse — and Thomas Geruso, a family friend. All three remained in critical condition at Rhode Island Hospital as of Tuesday afternoon, February 17, 2026.
Amanda’s message was clear: this was not an indiscriminate act. In her view, it was deliberate.
4. The Unthinkable: His Son Was Skating Just Feet Away
The horror deepened when details emerged about where Robert’s surviving son was at the exact moment shots rang out. As reported by the New York Post, 17-year-old Colin Dorgan — a team captain and standout defenseman for Blackstone Valley Schools’ hockey team — was on the ice in his No. 17 jersey when the deadly attack began.
Video shows him skating backward at center ice when the first cracks of gunfire echoed through the arena. He momentarily whipped his head around toward the sound, just feet from where his father was allegedly firing from the stands.
Moments earlier, authorities say, Robert had shot and killed Colin’s mother, Rhonda, and brother, Aidan. Colin then immediately began skating toward the rink exit, fleeing alongside teammates and a referee.
In the stands behind him, his father — who also identified as Roberta Esposito — allegedly fatally turned a gun on himself after killing two family members. The image of a teenage captain unknowingly skating toward chaos as his world collapsed behind him is one that will haunt this story forever.
Rhonda Dorgan with her kids, Amanda Wallace-Hubbard, Colin and Aidan Dorgan, posted on February 22, 2020. | Source: Facebook/Rhonda Dorgan
In a heartbreaking contrast, a 2021 Facebook photo shared by Robert shows the family beaming at a hockey event.
They stand close together, posing with a framed jersey and flowers, the atmosphere celebratory. The caption reads, “MY UNIVERSE.” The smiling faces in that snapshot now feel almost impossible to reconcile with what unfolded at the rink.
5. A Tense Professional Past
Less than three months later, on July 13, he was separated from the service with the lowest military rank. Marine Corps Spokesperson Maj. Jacoby Getty said the rapid discharge indicated Robert’s character “was incongruent with Marine [sic] Corps’ expectations and standards.” Jacoby declined to elaborate further.
In recent years, Robert worked at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine, which is a shipbuilding facility that contracts with the U.S. Navy. Co-workers told the AP that he often used the first name Roberta at work.
One colleague, Destiny Mackenzie, recalled that Robert frequently talked about family, especially his hockey-playing son, but never about his ex-wife.
“What was supposed to be some seniors’ only chance at playoff games is now ruined,” she penned in a message to the AP. “Images that these kids and family’s now have to live with. That’s who I send my condolences to is those families [sic].”
Destiny also said Robert had a bad temper that sometimes led to screaming matches with colleagues.
Another co-worker, who spoke anonymously for fear of workplace reprisals, said Robert seemed conflicted about transgender acceptance, proud of transitioning one moment and embarrassed the next. That same co-worker said they knew Robert owned guns, though they were unsure how many.
The shooting at the rink came nearly two months after Rhode Island was rocked by another deadly shooting at Brown University that left two students dead, nine wounded, and an MIT professor killed. Authorities later found the Brown University suspect dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Community Reaction
Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien reportedly addressed the tragedy, emphasizing that the incident was not connected to the separate shooting at Brown University nearly two months ago.
“The fortunate thing is that the two incidents are not related, but it is very tragic,” Don said. “These are high school kids. They were doing an event, they were playing with their families watching, a fun time, and it turned into this.”
A person walks past crime scene tape outside the Barus & Holley School of Engineering at Brown University following a campus shooting that left two dead and nine injured on December 14, 2025. | Source: Getty Images
The Coventry School District also reportedly confirmed that all of its Boys Hockey team players present were accounted for and safe. In a statement, the district said:
“The Coventry School District confirms that all students from the Boys Hockey team who were present during a reported incident at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, RI have been accounted for and are safe. District officials were notified of the situation while the team was at the arena and immediately began coordinating with event staff and law enforcement.”
“An officer from the Coventry Police Department is on scene and remains with the students. School staff are also present and supervising the team. The district is continuing to monitor developments and is working with authorities as reunification and transportation plans are finalized,” the statement reportedly continued.
A Coventry school bus parked around the Dennis M Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on February 16, 2026. | Source: Getty Images
“At this time, the district’s focus is on student safety, family communication, and ensuring a calm and orderly return home. We are grateful for the swift response of first responders and arena personnel. Additional updates will be shared if appropriate as more verified information becomes available,” it concluded.
At this time, we wish to extend our most heartfelt condolences to Amanda, Colin, Linda, Gerald, and their entire family, friends, community, and all impacted by this tragedy. We hope for their healing as they grieve the significant losses of Rhonda and Aidan. RIP to all the lives lost.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “help” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to
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