Fake News Friday, 02/20/2026: Pawtucket, RI shooting

I was horrified to learn one of my union sisters shot up a hockey rink on Monday. According to the Boston Globe, E02 Roberta Dorgan traveled to Pawtucket, RI where her son was playing. Roberta opened fire on her estranged family, killing her ex-wife Rhonda Dorgan and their other son, 23-year-old Aidan. Three others were injured. When bystanders wrestled the gun from Roberta, she took out a second gun and shot herself. Investigators called the shooting a “very targeted” “family dispute.”¹ The FBI executed a search warrant at BIW on Tuesday.² The investigation is ongoing.

Roberta was transgender. Right-wing media like the Daily Mail immediately picked up the story. On Facebook, Andy O’Brien responded to the news:

[Roberta] was extremely odd. I used to run into her in Bath Iron Works Facebook groups when she lived and worked in Maine. She described herself as “to the right of Hitler” and had a huge SS tattoo on her arm. Loved Trump, but would often get into to [sic] fights with other MAGA dudes about trans rights.

Whenever there’s a mass shooter, half the country hopes that shooter is trans and half the country expects [them] to be [a] right-wing extremist. In this case, she was both. So we’re once again fighting about the identity and ideology of the shooter and not the fact that [a] mentally disturbed person had easy access to guns.³

There are plenty of MAGA dudes without a violent bone in their body. Most trans folk never commit any violent crimes, either. Roberta committed a horrible act of domestic violence. We don’t need ideology to understand that.

Even so, it’s worth noting that BIW is not the hotbed of “transgender ideology” Facebook comments make it out to be. In fact, everyone on the LGBT+ spectrum are members of a very vulnerable community at BIW. In December 2024, Local S6 rejected a measure to form a Pride Committee even though the International resolved we should have one. Last February, BIW removed language referencing gender identity from its annual employment opportunity and antidiscrimination memo. Just last week, Pete Hegseth was met with cheers when he declared, “no more dudes in dresses!”⁴

Trans folk at BIW deserve the same respect and understanding as everyone else. They have a hard enough time finding jobs, keeping them, and feeling safe at work. This is reflected in unemployment rates. According to a 2022 study, the unemployment rate for trans adults was 33%. The unemployment rate was 12% among the general population.⁵ Suicide ideation and attempts are also much higher among trans people than the general population. Some 56% of trans people experience suicidal thoughts in their lifetime, and 29% have attempted suicide. The general population experiences suicidal ideation at a rate of 3.7% and attempts suicide at a rate of 0.5%.⁶ Transgender people are also more than four times as likely to be victims of violent crime.⁷ Trans people committing violent crime is very rare, especially mass shootings.⁸ Let’s bear this in mind before using Roberta’s crime to justify more transphobia at BIW.