On a night dedicated to honoring high school seniors, a Rhode Island ice rink became the latest instance of American gun violence as a father killed his ex-wife and son, wounded relatives and took his own life.
From Columbine High School in 1999 to Sandy Hook in 2012, Parkland in 2018 and a shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in December 2025, American citizens and residents have seen schools and campuses turn into killing grounds over the last three decades.
The names of each school are embedded into American history and synonymous with tragedy. Even as years and decades continue to pass, no tangible change is made to end the violence.
This endless cycle struck Providence once again earlier this week. During a high school ice hockey senior night game at Pawtucket’s Dennis M. Lynch Arena, a gunman opened fire into the stands, sending players and spectators into desperation to find cover.
Two were killed and three critically wounded before the chaos ended. Pawtucket police chief Tina Goncalves stated it was a “targeted” attack ignited by a family dispute, and the shooter was identified as 56-year old Robert Dorgan.
Dorgan also went by the name Roberta Esposito, and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene. Witnesses described a scene of panic and heroism, as at least three bystanders succeeded in subduing the armed man before Dorgan reached for a second firearm and took his own life.
Authorities confirmed Dorgan’s victims were members of his own family. His ex-wife, 51-year-old Rhonda Dorgan, and their adult son, Aidan Dorgan, 21, were fatally shot. Three others, Robert’s former in-laws and a family friend, were gravely injured and are in critical condition as of Feb. 19.
Don Grieben, mayor of Pawtucket, stated, “What should have been a joyful occasion…was instead marked by violence and fear.” A woman was seen leaving the Pawtucket police station, and although did not give her name, identified her father as the killer and her family as the victims.
This was the second mass shooting in Providence in as many months, following a December tragedy at Brown University that left two students and a professor dead in addition to nine wounded. This subsequent tragedy on senior night, an event many high school athletes revere, sharpens the spotlight on America’s everlasting gun crisis.
Firearms continue to be the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens, emphasized by a report from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. These statistics reflect policy failures in a nation flooded with an estimate 200 million to more than 350 million privately-owned firearms.
As Providence and the nation mourn yet again, Americans continue to plead for change. In a first-world nation where children are more likely to die by gunfire than any other cause, this horrific night at a hockey rink prompts a harrowing question: how long will America accept the carnage?
The logic that continues to justify easy access to weapons of war in civilian life is under fire once more.
