The son of a transgender person who shot up a skating rink earlier this week once tried to burn down a predominantly black church.
As previously reported, Robert Dorgan, a man who identified as a “transgender woman” named Roberta Esposito, opened fire at a high school hockey game in Rhode Island on Monday, shooting four family members and a family friend before killing himself.
Three people died, including Dorgan. The rest were injured, several critically.
*Graphic content*
‼️‼️ Shooting at Pawtucket, RI Ice Skating Rink.
2 Dead. 4 Injured.
— Maine (@TheMaineWonk) February 16, 2026
It’s since been learned that one of Dorgan’s children is a convicted arsonist doing time in federal prison.
“Nearly two years to the day before Robert Dorgan opened fire on his family during a high school hockey game in Pawtucket, one of his sons tried to burn down a Black Pentecostal church near his home,” according to the Boston Globe.
The son, 37-year-old Kevin Colantonio, was sentenced on June 4 of last year to 6-1/2 years in federal prison for trying to set fire to the Shiloh Gospel Temple Ministries, a Pentecostal church in North Providence.
During the attempted arson, he reportedly bought $10 worth of gasoline and a lighter, then headed to the then-empty church, where he proceeded to set multiple fires along its exterior.
The sentence came after Colantonio pleaded guilty to one count of malicious damage by means of fire and obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs, and two counts of assaulting a federal officer for throwing feces on a guard.
Prior to the attempted arson, he reportedly wrote violent, racist comments in a notebook.
“Hunt them down, gun everyone down who isn’t white,” he wrote in one entry. “Always give our bloodline a chance. Eliminate rich, snob, elite pastors. Burn churches down to the ground. They’ll get the hint church isn’t for them and will scramble around like idiots.”
A man in Rhode Island has admitted to setting multiple fires at a predominantly Black church, using gasoline and a lighter.
Fortunately, the church was vacant at the time.
Prosecutors allege that Kevin Colantonio, 35, specifically targeted the church because of the… pic.twitter.com/TcgKGcyCag
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) December 29, 2024
According to court documents reviewed by Providence station WPRI, Colantonio later admitted while behind bars that he’d “intentionally selected the [black] church as the object of the arson because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, and/or ethnicity of the congregants.”
People close to their family told WPRI that Dorgan’s own ideological views had influenced Colantonio.
“Dorgan, who was transgender, posted pro-Nazi content on an account on X, formerly known as Twitter, including repeated posts in which Dorgan wrote that being ‘to the right of Hitler’ was ‘a compliment,'” WPRI notes.
Dorgan also had a neo-Nazi tattoo:
Trans ice hockey rink shooter’s son SET FIRE TO BLACK CHURCH TWO YEARS AGO — WPRI
Robert Dorgan is the father of Kevin Colantonio, who was sentenced to six years in prison for for setting the fire
His notebooks reportedly said, ‘gun everyone down that isn’t white’ pic.twitter.com/Cs4YhAvG9G
— RT (@RT_com) February 18, 2026
The police didn’t initially realize the connection between Dorgan and Colantonio. That changed on Wednesday when North Providence Police Chief Alfredo Ruggiero Jr. confirmed that Dorgan was Colantonio’s biological father.
Ruggiero added that Dorgan lived with Colantonio as recently as 2004, right around the time he — Dorgan — started cross-dressing.
Dorgan later underwent some form of “gender reassignment surgery” in 2020, the year that his ex-wife (who was reportedly one of the deceased persons) filed for divorce on account of his surgery, in addition to his “narcissistic + personality disorder traits.”
His transgender status caused difficulties in his marriage and family life.
One time, Dorgan went to the police, complaining that his father-in-law was trying to kick him out of their shared home because of his status as a transgender person.
He told the police that his father-in-law threatened to “have him murdered by an Asian street gang if he did not move out of the residence,” according to court documents reviewed by WPRI.
His father-in-law also reportedly used a slur for trans people. The charges against the father-in-law were eventually dismissed.
That same year, Dorgan accused his own mother of assaulting him and acting in a “violent, threatening, or tumultuous manner.” She was subsequently charged with simple assault and battery, in addition to disorderly conduct.
However, Dorgan then told the cops that his father-in-law “told me that if I did not drop the assault charges against my mother, that further retaliation could be expected and that was another reason to have me killed.” The case against his mother was also eventually dropped.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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