Terrified Rhode Island hockey players fled from Robert Dorgan on their skates to nearby stores after ‘balloon popping’ gunfire left multiple dead: Live updates

High school hockey players fled in full gear after Robert Dorgan, 56, opened fire at their Senior Night game on Monday.

Olin Lawrence, a 16-year-old goalkeeper who was on the ice when the rampage started, said at first he thought the gunfire was balloons popping.

‘I was in mid-play, I heard a couple gunshots go off – I thought it was balloons at first, it was loud – and then it kept going on, so I ran right into the locker room after I left off the ice,’ he told NBC Boston.

Surveillance footage showed hockey players fleeing to a nearby convenience store while still in full gear.

Boston 25 reported that families who reached the store asked the owner to lock the doors, then the players were finally able to remove their skates.

Transgender shooter Robert Dorgan, 56, who went by the name ‘Roberta’ and used the last name ‘Esposito,’ fired at least a dozen shots in the stands at the Dennis M Lynch Arena in Pawtucket on Monday afternoon, killing two people before turning the gun on himself, Police Chief Tina Goncalves said at a news conference Monday night.

A motive for the shooting remained unclear Tuesday morning, but Goncalves believes it was targeted and stemmed from a family dispute.

The transgender gunman appeared to post ominous warnings in the days before the deadly shooting.

Dorgan shared an eerie video of a woman running on a treadmill while loading ammunition magazines into a handgun and aiming.

In another post on X, a profile for ‘Roberta Dorgano’ threatened to go ‘BERSERK’ while defending transgender Congresswoman Sarah McBride.

Woonsocket Call and Pawtucket Times Sports Editor Branden Mello told 12 News he was covering the high school ice hockey game when the gunfire broke out.

‘I initially thought it was balloons popping because it was senior day and I thought someone was popping balloons, but one of the people I was in the penalty box area with said, “That’s gunshots, get down,”‘ Mello recalled.

The journalist said a father from one of the high schools briefly disarmed the gunman.

‘A North Smithfield father, who’s not a father of any kid on either team, was just there to support North Smithfield, took the first gun, and then [Dorgan] took out another gun and fired somewhere between 6-8 more shots,’ Mello said.

‘I didn’t run out of there. I was there until the police came and swept the area. And then told everyone to leave and go outside into the parking lot.’

Mello described the horrified look on the hockey players.

‘The thing that hurts me the most is that I cover these kids. I know all these kids,’ he said.

‘I looked in their face, and I just felt terrible. Like their childhood was taken away, today, having to witness that was the worst part. To look in those kids’ eyes and see the sadness.’

On Monday evening, the NFL’s New England Patriots said they were ‘heartbroken by the tragic shooting that occurred today in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

‘Our hearts are with the students, coaches, fans, and all those affected by this act of violence.’

Olin Lawrence, a 16-year-old goalkeeper who was on the ice when the rampage started, said at first he thought the gunfire was balloons popping.

‘It was like, “bop, bop,” and I thought it was balloons, but it just kept going, and it was actually gunshots,’ he told Boston 25.

‘After the gunshots, me and my teammates ran right to the locker room, and we just bunkered up. We pressed against the door and just tried to stay safe down in there.’

Rhonda Dorgan, 52, was shot dead by her ex-husband Robert Dorgan – who also went by the name Roberta Esposito – at their son’s hockey game at the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence, on Monday afternoon.

Rhonda died at the indoor skating rink and one of her adult children ,who has not been identified, was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Two other family members and a family friend were injured in the shooting, WPRI reported.

Livestream footage of the game showed players starting to duck down on the sidelines after about six shots rang out at the Dennis M Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, about 10 minutes outside of Providence.

Other players who were on the ice scrambled to reach the sidelines and get to safety.

After a total of about a dozen shots were fired as spectators could be heard screaming and crying.

The gunman who killed two people at a youth hockey game in Rhode Island appeared to post ominous warnings in the days before the deadly shooting.

An online profile that appears to belong to Robert Dorgan, 56, who also went by the name ‘Roberta Esposito’, shared an eerie video of a woman running on a treadmill while loading ammunition magazines into a handgun and aiming.

In another post on X, a profile for ‘Roberta Dorgano’ threatened to go ‘BERSERK’ while defending transgender Congresswoman Sarah McBride.