A youth hockey game at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, ended in tragedy when gunfire broke out among people who had come to watch and participate. Our review of official records shows five people were hit; two later died and three were rushed to nearby hospitals in critical condition. Authorities later discovered a suspected shooter at the scene with an apparent self-inflicted wound. Local, state and federal teams have converged on the case, and investigators and medical personnel continue to piece together what happened.
The first hour after the shooting was frantic: dozens of 911 calls, rapid dispatches of police and emergency responders, and on-site triage as officers worked to secure the arena. Investigators quickly preserved surveillance and broadcast footage and turned it over to detectives. Forensic teams collected spent casings, limited ballistic fragments and other evidence, all logged under strict chain-of-custody procedures. Ballistic testing and acoustic analysis — assisted by the ATF and the FBI — are underway to clarify how many weapons were involved and to reconstruct the sequence of shots.