Michael Black was in the stands of Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Monday with his wife and their best friends to watch their friends’ son’s high school hockey game.
Black heard two pops, which he thought were two balloons that had been in front of the group. Then there was a third pop.
“All I saw was this person had a gun pointed at the people in the second row,” said Black, of North Smithfield. “I didn’t even look at my wife. I said, ‘Run, run.’”
Black, 58, said he lunged for the weapon and his left hand got caught on the slide, so it could not fire. He was on top of the shooter, Black recalled in an interview Tuesday.
Robert Dorgan, 56, who police said also went by the first name Roberta, fatally shot their ex-wife and adult son during the game in Pawtucket, according to authorities. Dorgan’s other son was playing at the time, and he was not hurt, authorities said.
Three other people — the ex-wife’s parents and a family friend — were wounded and remained in critical condition Tuesday, police said.
Black said that during the struggle with Dorgan, other bystanders jumped on top of the shooter, too.
“He was trying to press the trigger, and the gun wasn’t working because my hand was in the way,” Black said.
Dorgan fell back onto Black, reached into a jacket and pulled out another gun that looked just like the first, Black said.
“He had this scared look on his face,” Black recalled.
Dorgan used the second gun to kill themself, Black and police said. “He just pulled it out of his pocket and put it his mouth and shot himself,” Black said.
A motive in the shooting remains under investigation, and search warrants were being executed Tuesday as investigators try to learn more, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said at a news conference.
Goncalves said the intervention of bystanders Monday most likely saved lives.
Dorgan had been to other youth hockey games in the past, and it was not unusual for them to attend, Goncalves said. Monday’s game was held to celebrate “senior night” for the Blackstone Valley Schools cooperative team with a match against the Coventry-Johnston cooperative team. Both teams are made up of players from multiple schools.
“It was their senior night, and there was no expectations or any indication that there was going to be any type of violence,” Goncalves said Tuesday.
Black said he has gotten a lot of support from friends who are firefighters or in law enforcement, who told him that there is a process and that it will take time to recover emotionally.
But, Black said, he refuses to put off a planned visit with his son to look at colleges.
“This guy has disrupted so many lives, so many lives, that I made the decision he’s not going to disrupt mine,” said Black, a retired business owner who had no experience in anything like what happened Monday.
Black praised Pawtucket police and other first responders, as well as the ambulance and hospital staff, for how they handled the aftermath of the shooting.
A nurse at a hospital asked Black how he was doing, he said, and her eyes welled with tears. His eyes welled, too.
“It was just a moment that helped,” he said. “I was human again.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.
