Read the full article on KETV 7
FAMILY FRIEND. HE THEN TOOK HIS OWN LIFE. OUR PETER ELIOPOULOS SPOKE WITH THE GUNMAN’S FRIEND, JOINS US LIVE OUTSIDE THE ARENA TONIGHT. PETER AND ERIKA. YEAH. THAT FRIEND. SHE SAYS SHE ONLY KNEW THIS PERSON AS ROBERTA. AND SHE SAYS THAT SHE CAN’T FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT POLICE SAY HE DID INSIDE THE HOCKEY RINK BEHIND ME. TO SEE THE EVENTS OF THIS TRAGEDY. IT WAS JUST SHOCKING BECAUSE SHE HAD SUCH, YOU KNOW, A CALM DEMEANOR. KIMBERLY, WHO DECLINED TO SHARE HER LAST NAME, SAYS SHE MET ROBERT DORGAN IN 2020 AFTER HE HAD MOVED TO FLORIDA FOLLOWING HIS DIVORCE. KIMBERLY TAKING THIS PHOTO AND SAYS THE TWO EXCHANGED PHOTOS OF THEIR CHILDREN. SHE ALWAYS SPOKE HIGHLY OF HER KIDS, AND SHE SAID THAT HER CHILDREN WERE THE REASON THAT SHE BREATHED. PAWTUCKET POLICE SAY DORGAN SHOT AND KILLED HIS EX-WIFE RHONDA, THEIR SON AIDEN, AND WOUNDED RHONDA’S PARENTS, ALONG WITH A FAMILY FRIEND, KIMBERLY SAYS. DORGAN MOVED TO MAINE IN 2023 TO BE CLOSER TO THE CHILDREN. A GOFUNDME SET UP FOR THE SURVIVING CHILDREN HAS RAISED MORE THAN A QUARTER OF $1 MILLION. I CANNOT IN ANY SITUATION UNDERSTAND HOW SHE COULD GO AND TAKE THE LIFE OF HER CHILD, ESPECIALLY SINCE SHE SPOKE SO HIGHLY OF THEM AND I JUST IT BREAKS MY HEART. I’M. I’M DISGUSTED. I’M MAD, KIMBERLY SAYING SHE SPOKE WITH POLICE TODAY ABOUT DORGAN’S HISTORY AS THEY SEARCH FOR A MOTIVE, ADDING THAT SHE SPOKE REGULARLY WITH THE 56 YEAR OLD, INCLUDING JUST TWO WEEKS AGO. ROBERTA EXPRESSED FRUSTRATION ABOUT NOT SPENDING TIME WITH HIM AS MUCH AS SHE WOULD WANTED TO SPEND TIME WITH HER KIDS. TO DO TO HER FAMILY WAS JUST ATROCIOUS. SO A SMALL MEMORIAL IS CONTINUING TO GROW HERE. OUTSIDE OF THE RINK. WE DID GO TO DORGAN’S PARENTS SMITHFIELD HOME A LITTLE BIT EARLIER TODAY. A WOMAN WHO ANSWERED THE DOOR ASKED US TO LEAVE. LIVE IN PAWTUCKET. I’M PETER ELIOPOULOS WCVB NEWSCENTER 5. THANK YOU PETER FOR THAT. A REMINDER IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW NEEDS HELP, CALL OR TEXT THE SUICIDE AND CRISIS LIFELINE. THE NUMBER RIGHT THERE ON THE SCREEN.
Advertisement
While a motive for the Rhode Island hockey rink shooter remains unknown, a friend of the suspect said she was baffled by what happened.On Monday, Robert Dorgan, now identifying as Roberta Esposito, walked into the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, killed his ex-wife and his son, and injured three others.Dorgan then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.On Wednesday, Dorgan’s friend, Kimberly, said she had only known the suspect as “Roberta.”She said she met Dorgan at a biker meetup after he moved to Florida following his divorce and gender affirming surgery.”To see the events of this tragedy was just shocking because she had such a calm demeanor,” Kimberly said.Kimberly said the person that she knew, although different, deeply cared about his children.”She always spoke highly of her kids, and she said that her children were the reason that she breathed,” she said.The friend said she was disgusted by what occurred at the Pawtucket ice rink. Kimberly said that Dorgan put his children on a pedestal.After spending three years in Florida, Kimberly said Dorgan moved to Maine in 2023 to be closer to family, but had expressed frustration over not really being able to see the children.”We had a conversation not long after she moved up there, and it was repeated, where she said, you know, ‘I moved all the way up here, and I don’t see my kids as much as I want,'” Kimberly said. “Well, kids, a lot of teenagers don’t want to be around their parents anyway… if I’m being honest, it’s sometimes probably hard when you have the dad, that’s now a mom, and sometimes her wardrobe was sometimes more flamboyant than her personality.”Dorgan is accused of shooting and killing his ex-wife, Rhonda, and their son, Aidan, and also wounding Rhonda’s parents and a family friend.”I cannot in any situation understand how she can go and take the life of her child, especially because she spoke so highly of them,” Kimberly said. “It breaks my heart, I’m disgusted, I’m mad, I’m disappointed.”Police are continuing to investigate the motivation behind all of this. If you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health crisis, the National Suicide & Crisis Hotline is 988.
While a motive for the Rhode Island hockey rink shooter remains unknown, a friend of the suspect said she was baffled by what happened.
On Monday, Robert Dorgan, now identifying as Roberta Esposito, walked into the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, killed his ex-wife and his son, and injured three others.
Advertisement
Dorgan then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
On Wednesday, Dorgan’s friend, Kimberly, said she had only known the suspect as “Roberta.”
She said she met Dorgan at a biker meetup after he moved to Florida following his divorce and gender affirming surgery.
“To see the events of this tragedy was just shocking because she had such a calm demeanor,” Kimberly said.
Kimberly said the person that she knew, although different, deeply cared about his children.
“She always spoke highly of her kids, and she said that her children were the reason that she breathed,” she said.
The friend said she was disgusted by what occurred at the Pawtucket ice rink.
Kimberly said that Dorgan put his children on a pedestal.
After spending three years in Florida, Kimberly said Dorgan moved to Maine in 2023 to be closer to family, but had expressed frustration over not really being able to see the children.
“We had a conversation not long after she moved up there, and it was repeated, where she said, you know, ‘I moved all the way up here, and I don’t see my kids as much as I want,'” Kimberly said. “Well, kids, a lot of teenagers don’t want to be around their parents anyway… if I’m being honest, it’s sometimes probably hard when you have the dad, that’s now a mom, and sometimes her wardrobe was sometimes more flamboyant than her personality.”
Dorgan is accused of shooting and killing his ex-wife, Rhonda, and their son, Aidan, and also wounding Rhonda’s parents and a family friend.
“I cannot in any situation understand how she can go and take the life of her child, especially because she spoke so highly of them,” Kimberly said. “It breaks my heart, I’m disgusted, I’m mad, I’m disappointed.”
Police are continuing to investigate the motivation behind all of this.
If you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health crisis, the National Suicide & Crisis Hotline is 988.
