'Do not wonder why we Go BERSERK': Rhode Island hockey rink shooting latest tied to trans ideology

The murder-suicide at a Rhode Island hockey rink on Monday is just the latest in a recent string of murders allegedly carried out by self-identifying transgender perpetrators or by those seemingly inspired by transgender ideology.

Robert Dorgan — who police say shot and killed his ex-wife and one of their sons during a high school hockey game this week — had previously insisted he believed he was actually a transgender woman despite being a man. A local TV station said that "An unnamed woman, who identified herself as Dorgan's daughter, has since come forward, telling WCVB that her father 'has mental health issues.'"

"He shot my family and he's dead now," she reportedly said. Dorgan, who killed himself after the murders on Monday, had also expressed pro-Nazi sentiments, and according to The New York Post, was adorned with "vile neo-Nazi tattoos."

He is only the most recent example of high-profile attacks linked to transgender perpetrators or transgender ideology, including mass shootings at Christian schools, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Although legacy media seemingly ignored the statistical anomaly, independent journalists and their lawyers have fought to unseal documents related to such cases.

A dangerous cocktail of guns, gender dysphoria, mental illness and trans-ideology

The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project argued in September 2025 — shortly after the assassination of beloved conservative pundit and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk by a "trans" identifying person — that “Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violence and Extremism” is a “threat” which “encompasses the potentially unlawful use or threat of force or violence, including incitement to unlawful violence, in furtherance of ideological agendas derived from Transgender Ideology.”

The Oversight Project contended that “the assassination of Charlie Kirk has shaken the nation. It is the latest example of a perpetrator brainwashed by a corrosive and disjointed transgender ideology to carry out horrific acts of violence against innocent Americans.”

“The Oversight Project and the Heritage Foundation urge the FBI to designate ‘Trans Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism’ as a Domestic Terrorism threat category and use the full toolkit of the FBI to prevent future attacks inspired by this ideology,” the group said.

Shooters' defenders claim it's merely an "anti-Trans" trope

GLAAD — which was originally called the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation before dropping the full name in order to “reflect our work on transgender issues” — harshly criticized the idea.

“‘Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violence and Extremism’ is a common anti-trans trope used by right-wing political figures and media to fearmonger and fuel false narratives about transgender people,” GLAAD claimed last year. 

“As inflammatory rhetoric and hate tropes targeting transgender people are on the rise, it’s critical to recognize that such terms are being deliberately deployed to fearmonger and dehumanize.”

Blaming the shooting victims for their own murders: "Don't light my fuse"

Dorgan — who also went by “Roberta Dorgano” and “Roberta Esposito” — was a man who identified as a woman and said that he had undergone genital surgery. Dorgan shot and killed his ex-wife and one of his children at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena ice rink in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on Monday. He also shot and wounded other members of his former wife’s family before shooting and killing himself as well.

Dorgan had indicated recently that he was willing to “go berserk” in response to language critical of transgender ideology.

Television actor Kevin Sorbo tweeted on Saturday that Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del. — who is male but identifies as transgender and female — “is a man.” “Keep bashing us,” Dorgan tweeted in response on Sunday. “But do not wonder why we Go BERSERK.”

Far-right political commentator Alex Jones commented “so creepy” on Sunday in response to Sorbo’s post, and Dorgan replied, “STFU [Shut the Fuck Up] Alex. Don’t be so butt hurtt [sic] over somebody different. then wonder why trans ppl go fkn BERSERK.”

Dorgan had exclaimed way back in December 2018 that “​​I'm a gun fanatic transwoman; i use tampons for the hell of it. Don't light my fuse.” The emojis used in the tweet included Christmas trees, American flags, angry faces, and handguns.

Kirk — who was assassinated in September 2025 by a man who was allegedly upset with Kirk’s stance on transgenderism — appeared on Fox News with Jesse Waters in May 2025, where Kirk argued that “the only men who are gravitating toward the Democrat party are men who want to become women.”

Daughter says "I think his gender-identity issues are a symptom of a deeper issue."

“GFYM [Go Fuck Yourself Myself],” Dorgan tweeted in response, adding that he had undergone “full surgery” to attempt to become a woman and stating that his politics were “to the Right of Hitler.” Dorgan had also tweeted in October 2024 that he was “post op trans, to The Right of Hitler.”

NBC News affiliate 10 WJAR reported that Dorgan’s daughter told the outlet on Tuesday “that her father struggled with mental health his entire adulthood” and that "I think his gender-identity issues are a symptom of a deeper issue."

The conservative satire outlet The Babylon Bee shared a May 2025 article with the headline: “'Psst! Hey Kid, Wanna Change Your Gender?' Says Target Dog Emerging From Clothes Rack.”

“Most Trans PPL leave kids alone,” Dorgan tweeted in response. “I would fight to the death for children.”

Right-wing provocateur Alex Jones also posted an August 2025 tweet where he shared a photo of some of the ammunition magazines which had been displayed by Minnesota school shooter Robin Westman (a man who had also identified as transgender and a woman). Westman would go on to murder two children and wound another 18 people. 

“Some trans ppl would defend kids with their last breath,” Dorgan claimed in a tweet reply. Despite that, Dorgan would end up shooting and killing one of his children a half a year later.

NBC News affiliate 10 WJAR reported that Dorgan’s daughter told the outlet on Tuesday “that her father struggled with mental health his entire adulthood” and that "I think his gender-identity issues are a symptom of a deeper issue."

Dorgan was also a self-proclaimed fan of antisemitic social media influencer Nick Fuentes, saying in December 2025 that “Nick Rules” and that he “Love[s] Nick!!!!”

Social media posts by Dorgan show his arms covered in tattoos, including an “SS” tattoo.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum says that “the SS (Schutzstaffel, or Protection Squads) was originally established as Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard unit. It would later become both the elite guard of the Nazi Reich and Hitler’s executive force prepared to carry out all security-related duties.”

Back in October 2017 — years before his ex-wife filed for divorce — in suggesting a caption for a photo of a man in a dumpster, Dorgan tweeted: “When you tell your wife you’re trans and she chucks the wedding bands....”

“Our family has been forever changed by the tragic events at Lynch Arena, where we lost our beloved brother Aidan and their mother Rhonda, who was also my stepmother,” the family of Dorgan’s slain victims said in a GoFundMe post. “In addition to this unimaginable loss, their grandparents are currently in critical condition, fighting for their lives. Ava, who is working hard as a nursing student, and Colin, a 17-year-old senior in high school, are now facing the future without their parents and older brother. The weight of this loss is something no one should ever have to bear, especially at such young ages.”

Trans-linked violence comes to Canada too

Just last week, Canada experienced one of its largest mass shootings in recent history, when Jesse Van Rootselaar — a man who identified as transgender and a woman — killed his mother and 11-year-old stepbrother before attacking people at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, where he killed five students and a teacher before killing himself with a gun on February 10.

It was reported by USA Today that “the shooter was identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who was born male, began transitioning six years ago and identified as female,” according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Van Rootselaar’s mother reportedly posted in July of last year “that she supports protecting trans children” as she criticized “keyboard warriors. [...] As a conservative-leaning libertarian who lives in the north and loves living in a small town, I really hope the hate I see online is just bored old people and not true hatred,” Van Rootselaar’s since-murdered mother wrote in July 2024. “Do better and educate yourself.”

CNN reported that “on the Reddit account which matched the username of Van Rootselaar’s YouTube channel, several posts openly discussed struggles with mental health issues, with the poster saying they had sought psychiatric help in 2023. The Reddit posts also detailed drug use.”

The Anti-Defamation League claimed that “preliminary findings on the Tumbler Ridge shooter from the ADL Center on Extremism suggest the shooter followed a troubling pattern of online radicalization marked by engagement with white supremacist ideology and a self-described addiction to gore content.”

The assassination of Charlie Kirk

Authorities announced last summer that they had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, a resident of western Utah, for the September 10 murder of Charlie Kirk, a popular conservative influencer and ally of President Donald Trump, whom the suspected shooter gunned down at Utah Valley University during a question-and-answer session at the Turning Point USA event.

Robinson is not said to identify as transgender himself — but his roommate and purported boyfriend at the time allegedly identified as such.

The alleged assassin who shot and killed Kirk last summer was living with a male partner who was allegedly in the process of “transitioning” to being a female and who was “cooperating” with investigators, sources familiar with the investigation told Just the News in September.

The ammunition allegedly belonging to Robinson was  inscribed with such antifascist and anti-Nazi phrases as “Hey fascist! Catch!” and apparent video game references.

Utah prosecutors provided evidence during a press conference and in a court filing last year that Robinson’s family members said he leaned to the “left” politically, and that he had recently become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.”

Robinson decided to kill Kirk because of Kirk's imagined "hatred"

Robinson allegedly told his mother after the shooting that “there is too much evil and the guy [Charlie Kirk] spreads too much hate.” The suspect also allegedly messaged his roommate — a boyfriend who was allegedly seeking to transition from male to female — that Robinson had targeted Kirk “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox conveyed similar details about information provided by the roommate during a September press conference. Cox said that a family member said Robinson had become “more political” in recent years, and that earlier this year Robinson had mentioned that Kirk was coming to the Utah university, with a family member allegedly stating he believed Kirk was “full of hate” and “spreading hate.”

Cox told The Wall Street Journal in a story published in September that “it’s very clear to us and to the investigators that this was a person who was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”

Robinson was charged with “aggravated murder” in Utah. He has not entered a formal plea, and a trial date has not been set yet.

“I wish I never brainwashed myself”

Robin Westerman — another male who identified as transgender and female — shot and killed students at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minnesota on August 27 last year — only a few weeks before another trans individual murdered Kirk. Westerman killed two children and wounded more than a dozen others. He killed himself after the shooting.

The New York Times — which insisted on using female pronounces to describe Westerman despite him being a biological male — reported that “at 17, the shooter legally changed her name to Robin Westman from Robert Westman, because she identified as female and wants her name to reflect that identification,’ according to court documents.”

It was reported by The New York Post that Westerman had written “a twisted handwritten journal he shared on YouTube before the massacre.”

“I only keep [the long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” the outlet said Westerman had written. “I regret being trans. I wish I was a girl. I just know I cannot achieve that body with the technology we have today. I also can’t afford that.”

A notebook belonging to Westerman included a hand drawn map of the inside of a church — with a video showing a knife stabbed into it.

Ammo magazines displayed by Westerman included a host of angry messages, including “6 million wasn’t enough” (an apparently antisemitic reference to the Holocaust), an apparent desire to “Kill Donald Trump,” and the question “Where is your God?”

Faith, houses of worship a popular for violent trans shooters

On March 27, 2023, Audrey Hale killed three children and three school employees at The Covenant Presbyterian Church and School. Hale — a female who identified as male and transgender — had attended The Covenant School between 2001 and 2005.

The Metro Nashville Police Department released its 48-page “Investigative Case Summary” on The Covenant School shooting last year.

“It should be noted that in life, the offender, Audrey Hale, gender identified as a male and used he/him as preferred pronouns. Under Tennessee law, a person’s gender identity must correspond with their biological sex or with information present on their certificate of live birth,” the Nashville police investigative summary said. 

“As Hale was a biological female at the time of her death and throughout the incidents described in this summary and in the case file, Hale will be referred to as a female.”

Trans-shooter Hale: “Being white sucks [...] I hate you all.”

The report by Nashville police downplayed or ignored Hale’s obsession with and confusion over her gender identity and her desire to have been born male instead of female, and did not mention how Hale believed she was the reincarnation of one of the male Columbine shooters. The report by the police also omitted entirely her racist anti-white murder fantasies.

Megyn Kelly’s podcast released excerpts of Hale’s writings in April 2025. “Being white sucks, but being black is so cool. Black people should rule. White people should fall, every white person who lived and died. I hate you all,” Hale had written in one entry.

Hale wrote in June 2021 that “I feel I am the reincarnation of Dylan Klebold” — one of the Columbine school shooters. Hale also expressed a desire to “kill all the white kids. Kill my own race [...] Let all the black kids go [...]” A month later, Hale wrote that “being white sucks… I hate you all.”

“It was miserable being raised a girl [...] I didn’t know trans existed [...] We should all choose our gender,” Hale wrote in April 2022. She referred to herself as a “Trans Man” on the next page, and on the page after that she wrote: “F Me [...] Female pronouns make me want to die…”

Records released by the FBI show Hale also wrote about the “advantages” of targeting the school, including that it was a “Christian school” — and underlining that she “hate[s] religion.”

Kavanaugh’s would-be assassin: "I need psychiatric help”

Nicholas Roske was charged with and later convicted of attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home in June 2022. Just ahead of sentencing in September 2025, Roske’s lawyers revealed that Roske wanted to be called “Sophie” and identified as transgender and female, despite being male.

Roske had showed up at Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland after midnight with burglary tools, a knife, a gun, pepper spray, and a pair of special boots with outer soles allowing stealthy movement inside a house, though he walked away when he spotted a pair of deputy U.S. marshals outside Kavanaugh’s home, according to court records.

Roske told investigators he was angry about the possibility of the court overturning Roe v. Wade and believed Kavanaugh would play a role in upholding Second Amendment rights in a separate high-profile case.

Authorities released 911 call records showing Roske called the police on himself before executing his plan, saying, “I need psychiatric help.” He had called a cab to the home of Kavanaugh before walking away just outside of it. He told the operator he had shown up to hurt “Brett Kavanaugh [...] the Supreme Court justice.”

Roske’s defense lawyers submitted a September 2025 filing revealing that their client identified as transgender — and attempting to argue that this was a mitigating factor for the judge to consider. The revelations were first reported by The Daily Wire.

“The case is captioned as United States v. Nicholas John Roske,” the defense lawyers wrote. “That name remains Ms. Roske’s legal name, and she has not asked to recaption the case. Out of respect for Ms. Roske, the balance of this pleading and counsel’s in-court argument will refer to her as Sophie and use female pronouns.”

The defense team also contended that “in 2015, when Sophie was 19 years old, she made plans to take her own life by driving off a cliff near her church in Chatsworth, California.” The lawyers also said that “Sophie attempted to move out on her own and live as a trans woman; it ended in failure. In 2020, Sophie came out to herself as a trans woman and sought medical care.”

Roske’s lawyers said that the Dobbs opinion leak and protests outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices “started Sophie, then acutely suicidal, ruminating about the Supreme Court and the impact its decisions can have on the country.”

The defense team argued that “Ms. Roske’s offense conduct is mitigated by several factors, including but not limited to [...] The harshness of the conditions of confinement Ms. Roske will face due to current Bureau of Prisons policy regarding transgender inmates and the lack of adequate mental health resources in the Bureau of Prisons.”

Roske’s sister also told the judge that “Sophie has had a rock in her shoe her whole life” — comparing that sort of discomfort to Roske’s belief that he is actually a woman.

Roske’s mother told the court that “Sophie is transgender. No wonder she needed space and moved so far away. At that time, Sophie was trying to navigate something that I hadn’t been open to recognizing, or hearing. I wasn't a safe space to share something so personal. Since her incarceration, we have been able to have open and honest conversations about her gender identity and how that evolved.”

The sentencing of Roske was decided by Judge Deborah Boardman, an appointee of now-former President Joe Biden.

The DOJ argued that Roske should be sentenced to “no fewer than 30 years to life imprisonment, followed by lifetime supervised release,” calling it “the necessary and just sentence in this case.”

Judge Boardman sentenced Roske to much less than that: The DOJ revealed in October 2025 that Roske “was sentenced today to slightly more than eight years in federal prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for attempting to kill a United States Supreme Court Justice.” The Department of Justice advocated for a sentence of at least 30 years to life.

“The attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was a disgusting attack against our entire judicial system by a profoundly disturbed individual,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “The Department of Justice will be appealing the woefully insufficient sentence imposed by the district court, which does not reflect the horrific facts of this case.”

The DOJ appealed in November, but the federal appeals court hasn't made a decision yet.