Police released a newly available body-camera video showing what happened in the moments after a deadly shooting at a Rhode Island youth hockey rink, when confusion over the shooter’s location quickly collided with urgent efforts to help those who were hit. The Pawtucket Police Department footage, which The Boston Globe obtained and published Friday, shows law enforcement rushing into the arena as bystanders and responders try to sort out information while treating injuries.
In an exchange captured outside the arena, a woman tells an officer, “My dad shot my brother,” the video transcript shows. The officer then moves quickly into the building and the footage, released with heavy blurring, focuses on the outside of the structure and the stands. Inside, the officer can be heard shouting “Where is he? Where is he?” while searching for the gunman.
As the officer advances past left-behind jackets and bags, the video shows him running toward people gathered at the front of the bleachers. He repeatedly asks, “Where’s the shooter?” before other voices respond. A man tells him, “The shooter’s right here,” as the search continues and the tempo accelerates.
Over the next several minutes, the footage depicts a fast-moving scene in which police and bystanders cooperate to help victims. A bystander checks a victim for a pulse and describes it as “faint.” The officer directs someone to find more rags so they can apply pressure to wounds, while other voices in the background react to what they’re seeing.
The video also includes accounts of injuries and calls for attention to multiple victims. Voices describe a man with two gunshot wounds in the back and a woman shot in the back, side and hand. The officer asks an injured person, “Aidan, hey, talk to me, Aidan. Aidan, how old are you? How old are you, buddy?” before seemingly discovering additional injuries, saying, “Oh, he’s got three. Oh, my God, he’s got more.”
Authorities have said the shooter was Robert Dorgan, 56, and that he targeted family members during a youth hockey game. Police said Rhonda Dorgan and Rhonda Dorgan’s father, Gerald Dorgan, as well as Dorgan’s adult son Aidan Dorgan, were killed. Police said Rhonda Dorgan’s mother, Linda Dorgan, and family friend Thomas Geruso were wounded.
Police also said Robert Dorgan died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and that he also went by the names Roberta Esposito and Roberta Dorgano. Law enforcement said several “good Samaritans” helped intervene and quickly stop the attack, including at least three bystanders who were able to contain the shooter in the middle of the stands as the crowd fled and ran around them.