PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WHDH) – The gunman who opened fire at an ice rink in Pawtucket, Rhode Island Monday, killing two of his family members and then himself, had prior issues with some of his family members regarding his decision to get a sex change operation at least five years ago, according to several court documents.
Court documents revealed Robert Dorgan, also known as Roberta Dorgan and Roberta Esposito according to Pawtucket police, complained his father-in-law threatened to evict him from his home on Wentworth Drive in North Providence, Rhode Island where he and his wife Rhonda had been living for seven years.
Dorgan’s father-in-law owns the home, but allowed his daughter and Dorgan to live there.
In February 2020, Dorgan went to the North Providence police station to file a written complaint against his wife’s father.
The written documents show Dorgan told an officer he had been threatened with bodily harm and ordered to leave his home by his father-in-law. Dorgan cited the reasons for that being he just had a sex change operation, and he had filed assault charges against his own 70-year-old mother. Those assault charges have since been dropped.
Dorgan’s note to police says his father-in-law threatened to, “have an Asian street gang murder me if I did not move out of my residence.” Prosecutors later dropped the charges, saying Dorgan had moved to Florida and did not want to pursue the case. They also said Dorgan’s note claimed his wife’s sister’s husband had Asian gang connections, but police determined he is a Worcester physician of Asian decent.
Dorgan’s sex change came up when Rhonda Dorgan decided to divorce her husband. In her 2020 complaint, she initially indicated, “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic, and personality disorder” as reasons for her needing to leave Robert. That statement was eventually crossed out and amended to say “irreconcilable differences” caused the breakdown of the marriage.
A Massachusetts marriage certificate shows the couple married in Rehoboth when Rhonda was 18-years-old.
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