Home Economy Government Report: ‘Good Samaritan’ explains how he helped stop Pawtucket ice rink shooting

Report: ‘Good Samaritan’ explains how he helped stop Pawtucket ice rink shooting

By

PBN Staff

-

02/18/2026

Ice Rink-Shooting — POLICE CONTINUE to tape off the Dennis M. Lynch arena a day after a deadly shooting during a youth hockey game on Tuesday in Pawtucket. /ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO/RODRIQUE NGOWI

PAWTUCKET – A “good Samaritan” that helped end a deadly shooting during a youth hockey game on Feb. 16 at Dennis M. Lynch Arena has stepped forward. “I remember looking up at the clock and seeing there was approximately 10 minutes left in the first period, then all of a sudden I heard ‘bang, bang,’” Michael Black told WPRI-TV CBS 12 Tuesday. “It sounded like big balloons. It didn’t sound

Already a Subscriber? Log in

To Continue Reading This Article

Become a Providence Business News subscriber and get immediate access to all of our premier content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Critical RI business news and analysis updated daily.
1 year of print (26 issues).
Unlimited access to all subscriber only content on our website, on any device.
Free email alerts.
Annual Book of Lists Print Edition.
All special issues produced during subscription term.

Click Here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article

PBN Branded Content

GYN Health Through the Years: Why Open Conversations Matter at Every Stage of Life

Women’s health is not static. It evolves with us—through our teens, childbearing years, midlife, menopause,…

Learn More

No posts to display

LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply

PAWTUCKET – A “good Samaritan” that helped end a deadly shooting during a youth hockey game on Feb. 16 at Dennis M. Lynch Arena has stepped forward. “I remember looking up at the clock and seeing there was approximately 10 minutes left in the first period, then all of a sudden I heard ‘bang, bang,'” Michael Black told WPRI-TV CBS 12 Tuesday. “It sounded like big balloons. It didn’t sound like gunfire in the beginning.” “Then I heard another one, and I knew it wasn’t balloons at that point.” Black, a former Rhode Island small-business owner, told WPRI he was among the spectators who rushed the shooter to stop the attack. He was at the arena with his wife when Robert Dorgan, 56, opened fire killing his ex-wife and son before fatally killing himself. “I didn’t see the face of the shooter, but I did see the hand with a gun being pointed. Without even looking at her, I just said, ‘run,'” Black said. “My wife got up with her friends and they just started booking it. Once they were in my peripheral vision, I started looking for the shooter ... It was chaos at this point.” Black said he jumped up and tackled Dorgan, jamming the shooter's gun with his hand. “I grabbed the gun and my hand was inserted in the slide. I had my left hand in the slide and my right hand was pushing down on him. He was trying to pull the trigger, but my hand was in there so it wasn’t working,” he said. “I was able to get his hand off of the gun and I then took the gun from him.” Black said he made eye contact with Dorgan while he pinned him to the ground. Dorgan pulled out another gun and fatally shot himself. “We were staring right at each other,” he said. “Then he took his left hand and put it in his jacket, and he pulled out another gun. It was the sister gun to the gun I had in my hand.” Black told WPRI he needed nine stitches for a cut on his left hand. He also suffered face burns after one of shells from Dorgan’s initial shots hit his face. “This is a day that is never going to be forgotten,” he said. Pawtucket Chief of Police Tina Goncalves said the shooter's ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, and adult son Aidan Dorgan were killed and three others were injured: Rhonda Dorgan's parents, Linda and Gerald Dorgan, and a family friend, Thomas Geruso, all of whom remained in critical condition Tuesday afternoon, Goncalves said. Dorgan also went by the names Roberta Esposito and Roberta Dorgano, authorities said. Goncalves said there was “no indication” there would be violence at the ice rink that day, adding that Dorgan had been to many hockey games to watch family members play before without incident. Gender identity apparently was a contributing factor to Dorgan’s wife filing for divorce in 2020 after nearly 30 years of marriage. Court filings show Rhonda Dorgan initially wrote “gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits” as reasons for filing but crossed that out and wrote “irreconcilable differences which have caused the irremediable breakdown of the marriage.” Court documents show that two shared the same last name even prior to getting married. Authorities have not provided additional details about the same name. Under the name Roberta Dorgano, Dorgan posted on X that Rhonda Dorgan “hates the person who stole her husband” while posting about the couple’s marital troubles in 2018. A year later Dorgan wrote on social media: “Transwoman, 6 kids: wife – not thrilled,” and encouraged people to not let being transgender stop them from creating a family. A day before the shooting, Dorgan responded on X to anti-transgender posts by actor Kevin Sorbo and Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones by saying that constant criticism of transgender people is “why we Go BERSERK.” (The Associated Press and Providence Business News contributed to this report.)