Three people, including the gunman, were killed Monday when a trans man, Robert Dorgan, going by the name Roberta Esposito, opened fire inside an ice hockey rink in the U.S. city of Patakett, Rhode Island, during a youth hockey team game, according to local authorities. Three others were injured and are being treated in critical condition.
The man, appears to have been undergoing gender transition.
Pattaquette Police Chief Tina Gonsalves said at a news conference that “we have at least three people dead,” clarifying that the suspect was among them. The three wounded were taken to a hospital and are in “critical condition,” she added.
Reports from a local television station owned by the NBC News network said one of the victims was a young girl, but there was no official confirmation from authorities.
The shooting occurred while an ice hockey game between youth hockey teams was in progress, with players and spectators present.
Videos circulating on social media sites and broadcast by the television station show players and spectators running for cover as repeated gunshots are heard inside the indoor arena.
“After the shooting, my teammates and I rushed to the locker room,” said an eyewitness who was on the field, speaking to local television network WJAR. He said some players kept the door closed while the rest of us “tried to take cover inside” the locker room.
The incident adds to a long list of armed attacks in the United States by trans people.
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