Two people were killed and three others were injured after a gunman opened fire during a high school hockey game in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Monday, officials said.
Officers were called to the Dennis M. Lynch Arena on reports of an active shooter at around 2:30 p.m., Pawtucket Police Department Chief Tina Goncalves said.
Officers found one of the victims dead inside the arena, Goncalves said, and another died at a hospital. The two appear to be adults, the chief said.
The suspected shooter was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Goncalves did not identify the victims Monday, and a motive is under investigation.
“This was a targeted event. It looked like a family dispute and there was one individual that was a family friend,” Goncalves said.
The suspect was identified by police as Robert Dorgan, who Goncalves said also went by the first name Roberta and by the last name Esposito. The office of Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien said the suspect was 56 years old.
“It appears that a lone individual, the suspect, entered the arena to watch the hockey game of a family member. And unfortunately, during that time, a shooting occurred,” Goncalves said in a news conference later Monday night.
The three other people who were taken to the hospital were in critical condition from gunshot wounds, Goncalves said.
The shooting took place on “senior night” for Blackstone Valley Schools and hockey teams from Coventry-Johnston co-op and St. Raphael-Providence Country Day-North Providence-North Smithfield co-op were playing, NBC News affiliate WJAR reported.
A bystander who tried to subdue the gunman likely stopped the violence from being worse, Goncalves said at a news conference Monday night.
“A good Samaritan stepped in and interjected in this scene, and that’s probably what led to a swift end of this tragic event,” she said, noting that the bystander tried to “subdue” the shooter.
Grebien, the mayor, called it a “terrible tragedy.” He said the three wounded people were “fighting for their lives.”
“Family and friends were gathered today at a hockey game at Lynch Arena to celebrate senior night, bringing together communities across the state,” Grebien said. “Instead, an act of senseless violence has taken the lives of two innocent victims, with the suspect taking his own life.”
Because the game was being livestreamed online, the incident was captured on video. A spokesperson from the platform that streamed the game said access to the footage has been locked.
In the video, which NBC News has verified, the shooting is not visible in the wide angle of the arena. Students can be seen on the ice when a series of roughly a dozen shots are heard. The first few shots are separated by a few seconds, then the rest occur in rapid succession.
The video shows people in the stands running for the exits when the first shots are heard, and players on the bench duck down. The students on the ice do not initially seem to know what is happening but rush to exit the rink when the gunfire continues.
Coventry Public Schools of Rhode Island Superintendent Don Cowart said in a statement that all the members of the hockey team from Coventry were safe and accounted for.
Providence Country Day School and St. Raphael Academy said all of its students were safe.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan Mckee, who is a former youth basketball coach, said in a statement that he was praying for the state’s communities.
“Our state is grieving again,” Mckee wrote.
Monday’s shooting comes a little more than two months after a gunman opened fire at Brown University in Providence on Dec. 13, killing two students. That 48-year-old shooter fled and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor before killing himself, officials said.
Mckee thanked all the first responders who went to the scene to help after the hockey game shooting, as well as hospital staff and others.
“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,” McKee wrote Monday.
Firearms were retrieved at the scene, Goncalves said, but she did not say how many or what type.
Goncalves said Pawtucket police have not had prior interactions with the suspect.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that the FBI’s Boston field office was responding, and he pledged the agency’s support.
“In the meantime please pray for the victims and their families,” Patel wrote on X.
The Providence Bruins, an American Hockey League team affiliated with the Boston Bruins, as well as the Bruins, the New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox were among the sports teams who expressed their sadness and condolences.
