PAWTUCKET, RI — Police are crediting Good Samaritans for jumping in and disarming Monday’s gunman inside the Dennis M. Lynch Arena. Now, they’re speaking out about their quick action during the gunfire.
Michael Black from North Smithfield was at the game between the Coventry and Blackstone Valley co-op hockey teams. He told Boston 25 he was watching his friend’s son play on senior night.
“I heard two large pops, which sounded like two large balloons,” he remembered. “So, when I looked over, it was right in front of me and couldn’t see anything. Then, right away, I heard a third pop, and I recognized it wasn’t a balloon.”
He recalled, “I just said, ‘Run! Run!’”
Black said the crowd dispersed immediately when they realized it was gunfire.
He spotted Robert Dorgan only a few rows down opening fire on his family.
“He was shooting directly, like, in a perpendicular line straight down the row,” he said. “I just saw the gun and leaped, and kind of landed on him and landed on the gun all at one time.”
Black said the skin between his thumb and pointer finger was stuck in the gun and jammed it. He claimed Dorgan was still trying to shoot.
Black explained, “I knew I got hit with something. I recognized this morning it was a shell casing. I got hit on my lip, kind of burnt my lip right above my top lip.”
That’s when he saw two or three more good samaritans jump on Dorgan and disarm him.
According to Black, he was left laying on his back between the first and second row.
He remembered, “His left hand went into the pocket of his jacket, and he pulled out the same gun I was holding. It was like a sister gun. That’s when I said, ‘He has another gun! There’s another gun!’ As he saw it, there was a little bit of a panic, you saw a little panic on his face.”
Just a second later, Black said he watched as Dorgan shot and killed himself.
Tuesday night, a hockey stick and flowers outside the Dennis M. Lynch Arena honor the two innocent lives lost Monday, and the three who are still fighting for their lives.
Black finished, “I’m just hurt for them, man. I’m just saddened by the whole situation and how quickly life can be taken away.”
Police reportedly told Black that even family of Dorgan’s credited Black’s quick action for saving their lives.
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