Three people are dead and three others are wounded after a mass shooting at an ice hockey rink in Pawtucket on Monday afternoon.
Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves said the three people pronounced dead included the alleged shooter, who she said died from a self-inflicted gunshot, and two victims whom she said are likely related to the shooter. Identifying information is being withheld until officials can notify the victims’ families.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed said in a public statement that a “good Samaritan” confronted the shooter and tried to disarm them. Goncalves did not confirm that at an afternoon press conference.
“It appears this was a targeted incident, the suspect is dead, and there is no ongoing threat to the community,” Reed said. “But there are a lot of unanswered questions.”
When the shooting began on Monday, students from several Rhode Island high schools were playing a 2 p.m. game at the arena. It was Senior Night, according to Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien, for the Blackstone Valley Schools co-operative boys hockey team, which includes athletes from St. Raphael Academy, Providence Country Day and the public high schools of North Providence and North Smithfield. They were playing a co-operative team from Coventry and Johnston.
A superintendent for Coventry’s public school system, Don Cowart, said all students from that town are accounted for and safe.
Grebien said the investigation into the incident remained active.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee called the events “tragic.”
“Our state is grieving again,” McKee said in a statement. “As Governor, a parent, and a former coach, my heart breaks for the victims, families, students, and everyone impacted by the devastating shooting at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket.”
This shooting comes just two months after the deadly mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, in which two students were killed and nine others were wounded. That resulted in a multi-day manhunt for a suspect.
Pawtucket resident Shawn Moore was among those who gathered near the roped-off arena on Monday afternoon. He said he was in disbelief when he heard news of the shooting.
“The Lynch Arena of all places,” Moore said. “This is something that is shocking. The community from everything that I’m seeing, the responses I’m getting online, is shocked.”
Police respond to shooting at Pawtucket ice rink
Police officers gather outside the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket following a mass shooting on Monday afternoon. Authorities secured the scene as investigators worked to determine what led to the violence.
This story was originally published by Ocean State Media. It was shared as part of the New England News Collaborative.
