Two victims shot dead at a high school ice hockey game in Rhode Island have been identified as the suspect's ex-wife and son, police said on Tuesday.

Robert Dorgan - who police said also went by the names Roberta Esposito and Roberta Dorgan - was found dead inside the Dennis M Lynch Arena in Pawtucket on Monday, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after what authorities said was a targeted attack.

Dorgan's ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, and adult son, Aidan Dorgan, died. Rhonda's mother and father along with a family friend were injured. All three were in a critical condition at hospital.

Police have not given a motive, but said it appeared to be a family dispute.

Video of the incident showed shots fired while players were on the rink, sparking panic as the teams scrambled to leave the arena, which is located a few miles from the state capital of Providence.

Asked at a news conference on Tuesday if the shooting followed a confrontation, Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said no.

She said two guns recovered from the scene - a Glock 10mm pistol and a SIG Sauer P226 - were legally owned.

Goncalves told reporters a bystander "stepped in and interjected" and "that's probably what led to a swift end of this tragic event".

Court documents show that Rhonda Dorgan filed for divorce from Robert Dorgan, 56, in February 2020.

In the petition she wrote "gender reassignment surgery, narcissistic + personality disorder traits" as grounds for their divorce. Those words appear to have been crossed out and replaced with "irreconcilable differences".

That same month, the shooter filed a police report asking authorities to file charges against the father-in-law, alleging he had threatened to have Dorgan killed.

His father-in-law was alleged to have used a derogatory term for transgender people. Police filed a criminal charge against the father-in-law, though it was later dismissed.

The police chief said officers were combing through thousands of the suspect's social media posts, but added that Dorgan's gender identity was "irrelevant to the investigation at this point".

"What I can tell you is the identification was in the name of Robert and then we also know that the suspect went by the name Roberta," said Gonclaves on Tuesday.

"It appeared that the suspect was in female clothes yesterday, but again, that's nothing that had swayed the investigation, one way or another."

A family statement posted for an online fundraiser said: "Our family has been forever changed by the tragic events at Lynch Arena."

It added: "In addition to this unimaginable loss, their grandparents are currently in critical condition, fighting for their lives."

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a naval contractor based in Bath, Maine, confirmed that Dorgan was one of its employees.

The company said in a statement: "We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims, their families, and all those affected by this tragedy."

Authorities have spoken to dozens of witnesses to the attack. Many families were watching the game and ran in fear as gunfire broke out.

Melissa Dunn, whose son played for one of the hockey teams, said she saw paramedics performing CPR in the stands of the arena after she ran back inside to find her son.

"You don't know what's going on at first," Dunn said. "You just hear the loud noises. And we're used to the kids banging on the board with their skates, so we thought it was that at first."

She said she screamed for her son to duck and avoid gunfire.

"We ran out of the rink… your first thought is 'where's my kid?'" she said.

"I tried to get back in the rink, and I actually got back in there to find out where he was, and I saw them doing CPR in the stands and it was just really disturbing." (BBC)

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