A shooter unleashed a flurry of bullets during a Rhode Island youth hockey game, killing two people and injuring three others, in an attack that was cut short when a spectator stepped in to help stop the tragedy, authorities said.
Investigators had spoken to nearly 100 witnesses as of Monday evening as they attempt to piece together what happened earlier that afternoon inside the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence.
Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said Monday that the shooter died from an apparent self-inflicted gun wound, though authorities are still investigating.
Goncalves credited an unnamed “good Samaritan” who intervened, bringing the attack “to a swift end.” She did not provide details.
It is not entirely clear what precipitated the shooting, who was targeted or why.
The game was livestreamed by LiveBarn, a streaming platform for youth sporting events, whose videos have been shared on social media showing players on the ice as popping sounds are heard. Chaos quickly unfolds as players on benches dive for cover, those on the ice frantically skate toward exits and fans flee their seats.
LiveBarn’s social media account has been issuing warnings to those who shared the video that they do not have permission to do so. An email to LiveBarn seeking comment was sent Tuesday.
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“It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,” Goncalves said. Authorities said both people who died were adults but have not released the identities of the victims.
Goncalves identified the shooter as Robert Dorgan, who she said also went by the name Roberta Esposito, who was born in 1969.
Dorgan was an active employee at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a ship building in Bath, Maine, that contracts with the U.S. Navy, David Hench, a spokesperson for the shipyard, said Tuesday. Hench did not immediately respond to questions about Dorgan’s job title or how long Dorgan worked at the shipyard.
Monday’s shooting came nearly two months after Rhode Island was rocked by a shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and wounded nine others, as well as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor. Authorities later found Claudio Neves Valente, 48, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a New Hampshire storage facility.
“Our state is grieving again,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement. “As governor, a parent, and a former coach, my heart breaks for the victims, families, students, and everyone impacted by the devastating shooting at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket.”
Associated Press writer Patrick Whittle contributed to this report from Portland, Maine.
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