The Distance

The Distance

It Took Exactly One Week For The Thing That Never Happens To Happen Again

Mental health comorbidity, male pattern abuse, and the transgender shooter

Matt Osborne's avatar
Matt Osborne
Feb 17, 2026
∙ Paid
Your evolved human heuristics have already told you this man is dangerous
For some reason, this time the shooter is reported as a man, he/him. Huh

Robert Dorgan, a 56-year-old man, shot four members of his family and one more person before taking his own life yesterday. Two of his victims died at the Pawtucket Dennis M. Lynch Arena “in what authorities described as a family dispute”, according to WPRI News, a CBS affiliate in Providence.

In a notable development, no one is using pronouns for Mr. Dorgan. Instead, the killer’s ‘gender identity’ is front and center as the proximate mental health issue which led him to shoot his own family, that led his wife to divorce him in 2021, after he had vaginoplasty and completely lost his mind.

At a late-night news conference, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said Dorgan also went by the name “Roberta,” and court documents show his gender identity played a role in multiple family disputes over recent years.

Dorgan made what appear to have been false criminal charges against his ex-wife and shooting victim, his father…

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