PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Just after gunfire erupted at a high school hockey game, Amanda Wallace-Hubbard locked eyes with her estranged father, Robert Dorgan, who was dressed as a woman and had just fired a weapon.
“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today. He literally saved my life. I know he was coming for me next, and he wanted everyone to leave,” said Star Sloka, the fiancée of Aidan Dorgan, who had been watching the game.
She added, “If Aidan hadn’t stood up and taken the gun from his father and tried to protect his mother, I don’t think I’d have made it out. I probably wouldn’t even be here.”
Dorgan, 56, entered the Dennis M. Lynch Arena armed with two handguns, approached a family in the stands, and started shooting.
Wallace-Hubbard, 36, shared her thoughts about that chilling moment. “It sounds strange, but I felt like I saw him showing deep sadness. I realize that’s not what people might want to hear, but there was something profound in his eyes,” she remarked when discussing their brief connection.
Sitting down with her son, she recalled turning around to see him shooting his brother. “I ducked down and hid,” she explained, her heart racing. “I was terrified for my son’s life. When some good Samaritans intervened, my son was the only one in our family who wasn’t shot.”
After escaping the arena with her children, she emphasized that the shooting wasn’t random. “Our family was specifically targeted. My main priority at that moment was making it clear that this was isolated,” she stated.
Sloka, 23, who was set to marry Aidan next year, fled when she saw the gun, but Aidan stayed behind, trying to protect his family from his unstable father. “I urged him to run, but I knew his main goal was to keep everyone safe, and sadly, that’s what cost him his life. I couldn’t even say goodbye; all I could do was run,” she shared.
Sloka later learned of Aidan’s injury when she met someone who witnessed him being shot in the back. “He always tried to find the good in people, including his father, despite their difficult relationship,” she reflected.
“He really struggled with his mental health and, I think, he couldn’t bear the thought of his family being happy without him. He didn’t want them to fall into the same darkness he did. It’s heartbreaking. He just wouldn’t seek help,” she concluded.
