Police identify suspect in Rhode Island ice rink shooting

Police have identified the suspect in a shooting at a high school ice hockey game in Rhode Island that killed two people and injured three others.

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said Robert Dorgan, who also used the name Roberta and the surname Esposito, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the Dennis M Lynch Arena on Sunday.

"It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute," Goncalves said. She did not provide details about the identity of the victims.

Video of the incident showed shots were fired while players were on the rink, sparking panic as the teams scrambled to leave the arena.

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

After the incident, hockey players and their families described their fear after 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."

Olin Lawrence, a high school hockey player who was on the ice at the time of the shooting, told reporters he ran inside the locker room when he heard shots being fired.

"I went down and then I ran," he said. "We pressed against the door and just tried to stay safe down in there. It was very scary. We were very nervous. It was a lot of shots."

The shooting happened at the Dennis M Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, about five miles (8km) north of the state capital, Providence, and about 45 miles south of Boston.

"Our state is grieving again," Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee said, referring to a shooting in December at Brown University.

"As governor, a parent and a former coach, my heart breaks for the victims, families and everyone impacted by the devastating shooting at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket."